Every Fourth Sunday of Easter is also called the Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocations Sunday in which we recognize the presence of Christ in our midst as the Good Shepherd. The title of the Good Shepherd Sunday is informed by the theme that runs through the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John from where the Gospel is taken in all of the three circles of the Liturgical Calendar (Year ABC). The Gospel reading of this Sunday records these words of Jesus: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (10:27-30).

These four verses somehow contain the whole of Jesus’ message; he calls us to share in his relationship with the Father, and this is eternal life. Jesus desires to establish with us a relationship which mirrors his own relationship with the Father: a relationship of reciprocal belonging in full trust and in intimate communion. To express this profound understanding, Jesus uses the image of the shepherd with his sheep: he calls them and they recognize his voice, they respond to his call and follow him.

Christ the Good Shepherd speaks to us every day and in different forms and through different means. It is through listening to the Good Shepherd that we come to know Him and by knowing Him deeper and closely, we are attracted to build personal and intimate relationships with Him. It is by listening to the Good Shepherd that we are disposed to follow Him and to do what He commands us to do; and by following Him we place ourselves in the farthest distance and in a place where it is impossible for any one to steal us from Him. In our time we faced with many difficulties and challenges in listening and understanding the voice of the Good shepherd.

The presence of the countless number of voices, which often come in the forms of noise or disguised voices, inviting us to different forms of life, might have deafened us that we neither hear nor are we able to distinguish the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus uses three important verbs: listen,  know, and follow. Even today we are invited to listen to the voice of the Lord, who knows us – therefore he loves us – and to follow him. The Risen Christ is the Good Shepherd who guides us towards joy. He shows us the right way. He gives us the true meaning of life and helps us to build it and realize it fully.  He knows us with love. He knows the thoughts and doubts of our hearts. He comes looking for us, always.  The important thing is to follow him. He is the way, the truth, the life. How to follow him? In faith, in love, in listening to his word, in building up every day the response to the vocation he has given us, in love for neighbor and the needy, in body and spirit.