Tõesti, tõesti, ma ütlen teile, kes ei lähe lambatarasse uksest, vaid ronib üle mujalt, see on varas ja röövel. Aga kes läheb sisse uksest, on lammaste karjane. Temale avab uksehoidja ning lambad kuulevad ta häält, tema hüüab oma lambaid nimepidi ning viib nad välja. Kui ta on kõik omad välja ajanud, käib ta nende ees ning lambad järgnevad talle, sest nad tunnevad tema häält. Aga võõrale nad ei järgne, vaid põgenevad ta juurest, sest nad ei tunne võõraste häält...
"Tõesti, tõesti, ma ütlen teile, mina olen uks lammaste jaoks. Kes iganes läheb sisse minu kaudu, see pääseb ning käib sisse ja välja ning leiab karjamaad... 1Mina olen hea karjane. Hea karjane annab oma elu lammaste eest. Jn 10: 1-11
I remember, many years ago now, I was going along a road in Castile with some friends, when we noticed something in a field far away which made a deep impression on me at the time and has since often helped me in my prayer. A group of men were hammering some wooden stakes into the ground, which they then used to support netting to form a sheep pen. Then shepherds came along with their sheep and their lambs. They called them by their names and one by one lambs and sheep went into the pen, where they would be all together, safe and sound.
Today, Lord, my thoughts go back specially to those shepherds and their sheepfold, because all of us who are gathered here to converse with you — and many others the world over — we all know that we have been brought into your sheepfold. You yourself have told us so: 'I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.' You know us well. You know that we wish to hear, to listen ever attentively to your gentle whistling as our Good Shepherd, and to heed it, because 'eternal life is knowing you, who are the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent'.
The image of Christ with his sheep at his right and left means so much to me that I had it depicted in the oratory where I normally celebrate Holy Mass. Elsewhere, as a reminder of God's presence, I have had engraved Jesus' words, cognosco oves meas et cognoscunt me meae (I know my sheep, and my sheep know me), to help us consider constantly that he is at our side, reproaching us, instructing us and teaching us as does a shepherd with his flock (Friends of God, 1).
Christ has given his Church sureness in doctrine and a flow of grace in the sacraments. He has arranged things so that there will always be people to guide and lead us, to remind us constantly of our way. There is an infinite treasure of knowledge available to us: the word of God kept safe by the Church, the grace of Christ administered in the sacraments and also the witness and example of those who live by our side and have known how to build with their good lives a road of faithfulness to God...
The holiness of Christ's Spouse has always been shown — as it can be seen today — by the abundance of good shepherds. But our christian faith, which teaches us to be simple, does not bid us be simple-minded. There are hirelings who keep silent, and there are hirelings who speak with words which are not those of Christ. That is why, if the Lord allows us to be left in the dark even in little things, if we feel that our faith is not firm, we should go to the good shepherd. He enters by the door as of right. He gives his life for others and wants to be in word and behaviour a soul in love. He may be a sinner too, but he trusts always in Christ's forgiveness and mercy (Christ is Passing By, 34).