As Jesus speaks about himself as the Good Shepherd in John: 10, he begins by emphasizing the relationship between him and those who follow him. “The sheep hear his voice, as he 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” (John 10 3-4).

In the natural order, there is a bond established between the shepherd and the sheep. The sheep are attuned to the voice of their shepherd. They will not follow the voice of a stranger. In the spiritual order, we are called to recognized the move of God’s spirit in our hearts in contrast to the move of the thief who “comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy”. Who is this thief? The Evil One who seeks our destruction rather than our good. He seeks to lead us away from the Lord through temptation and sin in order to entrap and destroy us. The Lord, instead, seeks us out, bandages our wounds, carries us on his shoulder so that we can have “life to the fullest”. Whose voice do we follow? How attentive are we to that inner voice of God that calls us by name to follow him today?