Christians are compared to sheep in our gospel for this week and then reminded that Jesus will only be with them for a little while longer for the following week. I am not sure if being compared to sheep is a very flattering comparison, it is, however, eminently consoling, for of all creatures there are not any more compassed about with infirmity than sheep.
You see, sheep have many wants, and they are very helpless, and quite unable to provide for themselves, and if not for the shepherd’s care, they would soon perish. This, too, is our case, if only we would admit it. Our spiritual and physical needs are numerous and pressing, yet we cannot supply any of them alone. We are travelers through a vast wilderness that yields us neither food nor water. Unless our bread drops down from heaven, and our water flows out of the living rock, we will surely die. Our weakness and our want we keenly feel: still, we have no cause to run in freight, since the Lord knows our needs and supports us with the tenderest care.
If Christ were not our wisdom, we should soon fall prey to the destroyer and his evil ways. Every grain of true wisdom that we possess we have derived from a God of love, who – even though he ascended to Heaven – remains with us and waits for us to recognize our need of Him.
“My sheep,” says Christ, or us. Remember this is no more our shame that we are sheep, but it is our honor that we are Christ’s sheep. To belong to a king carries some measure of distinction. We are the sheep of the imperial pastures. This is our safety: He will not suffer the enemy to destroy us. This is our sanctity: we are separated, the sheep of the pasture of the Lord’s Christ. This is sanctification in one aspect of it: for it is the making of us holy, by setting us apart to be the Lord’s own portion forever. And this is the key to our duty: we are God’s sheep: then let us live to Him and consecrate ourselves to Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Christ is the proprietor of the sheep; and we are the property of the good Shepherd and through the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Paraclete – we are safe with Him until the end of the age.
Monsignor +Jim