Reflection
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
John 10:1-10
Jesus is still at work being the Good Shepherd, nurturing, giving life, but how does he do it now? Through you and you and me, all of us. That’s how Jesus is nurturing our human family so that it becomes transformed, but each of us has to take the responsibility to carry on the work of Jesus, to be that Good Shepherd who knows others, loves them, draws them into life.
This is what’s important: it’s much more important what you do than what you say. We’re going to be witnesses to this good news of Jesus; we’re going to be trying to transform the world; and so we do have to speak up. We have to share the message of Jesus, but we do that more than any other way by how we act. When all of us catch that spirit and act according to the spirit of Jesus, act like the Good Shepherd — reaching out, drawing everybody in, sharing what we have — the reign of God begins to come more into its fullness in our world.
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Prayer
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Action
Consider what it means to act in your life according to the spirit of Jesus.
Suggested Reading
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.
John 10:1-10
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23
The shepherd will be found where the lost sheep is.
Pope Francis
Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more.
Mother Teresa
Worship of Jesus is rather harmless and risk-free; actually following Jesus changes everything.
Richard Rohr
We should be more concerned with reaching the lost than pampering the saved.
David McGee
There are quite enough sheep already – be a shepherd: be somebody who’s bold and who leads.
Matt Bevin
Following Jesus isn’t something you can do at night where no one notices. It’s a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will interfere with your life. That’s not the small print—that’s a guarantee.
Kyle Idleman
If following Jesus Christ] doesn’t cost you anything, it’s because you’ve bought into ‘American Christianity.
Paul Washer