Lectionary: 280I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”
As we hear the determination in Jesus’s voice to be our shepherd, and his resolve to be the obedient Servant of God, we understand this is Who He Is. His shepherding is not a temporary assignment; Jesus remains as our guide, encouragement, protector, and strength for all eternity. His shepherding fits his role as priest, and he embodies the words of the 110th psalm, “You are a priest forever according to the line of Melchizedek.” He will follow that calling – Catholics call it a vocation – to the very end.
When Jesus says, “The Father and I are one!” he underlines their intense agreement. The Father and the Son are not one and the same person. They are not one as if the Father is the Son; or the Son is the Father. Rather, they are of one will. To use an analogy that pales before this mystery: any member of a football team wants to win as does the whole team. They are one in that resolve. I hear Jesus slamming his hand on the table as he makes this statement, and I see his disciples startled by his evident emotion. They can hardly fathom what it will cost him.
Because he is our Shepherd, we recognize our identity as sheep. This is Who We Are. And No One takes us from the Lord. Nor from his Father! We belong heart and soul to God or we have no existence whatsoever.
We're talking ontology here, the language of being. It's about who and what I am. Older folks will remember the words of the catechism, that Baptism, Confirmation, and Ordination to the Priesthood leave characters on our soul. We are fundamentally changed from the natural state of birth. We are different beings.
What the catechism didn't quite explain is that God claims us as his own, as "a people peculiarly his own." And there is no turning back.
We become sheep, or childlike, as we set aside our fears and suspicions to obey the Lord. That entails trusting both God and his Church. We know God by the trust we place in our priests and bishops, in our spouses, parents, and children, in our fellow Christians. The measure of our relationship with others is the measure of our being, our existence. I am human insofar as I belong to God and his Incarnate Son.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.