Today,
Jesus' gaze over manhood is that of the Good Shepherd, who accepts
under his responsibility the sheep that are given to him by the
Father and takes good care of each one of them. Between him and them
He creates a link, a recognition and faithfulness instinct: «My
sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me» (Jn
10:27). The Good Shepherd's voice is always an invitation to follow
him, to enter his magnetic circle of influence.
Christ has won our
hearts not only through his examples and his doctrine, but also with
the awful price He had to pay of his Divine Blood. He tremendously
suffered for all of us, and therefore, He does not want to lose
anyone of us. And yet, the evidence is clear: some do follow the Good
Shepherd's call while others, do not. Some react with anger at the
announcement of the Gospel while others jump with joy at the news.
What do the latter have the former do not? Saint Augustine, before
the vast mystery of the divine election, used to answer: «God
does not leave you, if you do not leave him»; He will not
forsake you if you do not forsake him. Do not therefore put the blame
on God, or the Church or on others, because you are the only one to
blame for, the problem of your faithfulness being only yours. God
does not deny anyone his grace, and this is precisely our strength:
strongly stick to God's grace. It is no merit of ours; we have simply
been “blessed”.
Faith
enter us through the ears, by listening to he Word of the Lord, and
the greater risk we run is our own deafness, to miss the Good
Shepherd's voice, because our head is full of noise and other
dissonant voices. Or even worse, what in Saint Ignatious' Spiritual
Exercises is named as «to turn a deaf ear», to know God
is calling you and pretend not to hear it. He who consciously and
repeatedly closes his ears to God's call, is no longer in tune with
Jesus and will also lose the joy of being a Christian, to go grazing
in other pastures that neither satiate nor give eternal life.
Nonetheless, He is the only one who could have said: «I give
them eternal life» (Jn 10:28).
