Fourth Sunday of Easter

Like Sheep We Listen

Jesus announces, “I am the gate for the sheep…I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be safe.”

Oh, how we need that gate today! Thieves and robbers abound. Multitudinous voices vie for our attention. Like the sheep, we sometimes need to be carried on Jesus’ shoulders in order to hear HIS voice.  Only then will we be safe.

Pope Francis often speaks of sheep and shepherds. He, too, reminds us that we are called on to look to Jesus as our shepherd, to see ourselves as sheep. We are not, however, being asked to succumb to an unthinkable herd mentality. Instead, we are listening discerningly to the call of Jesus. This is what God wants for us—to know the voice of Jesus so that we will not mistake it for other voices.

What will help me to tell the voice of Jesus from the other voices that call to me?

What can happen to me when I fall into the “herd” mentality? What snatches me out of that mentality?

Who are the shepherds in my life today?