Reflection
The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and,,,
the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.
John 10:1-10
The shepherd calls the sheep by name and they recognize him. Christ appears in the intimacy of relationship. He comes from deep in our being where each of us is called by name. He comes to reconnect us to ourselves and to the root of all that has being. Do we hear his voice? Where are we as individuals and as an earth community? Will we know the voice and follow and respond to our name, to our deepest identity?
Adapted from J. Philip Newell
Prayer
The Lord is my Shepherd; he leads me in right paths.
Action
In this period of transformative change to what are we being called? What does it mean to follow Christ in this time? What are the ”voices of strangers” whose call misleads us today?
Suggested Reading
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
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is attentive to each one of us; He seeks us and loves us, giving us His word, knowing our hearts in depth, our desires, and our hopes, as well as our failures and our disappointments. He receives and loves us as we are, with our good points and our bad points.
Pope Francis
Christ’s flock is made up of sheep that not only listen to their shepherd, but are also able to recognize his voice, to follow him, faithfully and with full awareness, on the pastures of eternal life.
Pope John XXIII
Vocation does not come from a voice out there calling me to be something I am not. It comes from a voice in here calling me to be the person I was born to be.
Thomas Merton
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be. How much you can love. What you can accomplish. And what your potential is.
Anne Frank
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
Frederick Buechner
Calling is not only a matter of being and doing what we are but also of becoming what we are not yet but are called by God to be.
Os Guinness
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
Chuck Swindoll