Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. First and foremost, the attitude of the sheep must be to listen to the shepherd’s voice and follow him. To listen carefully, to be docile to his word, to follow him with a decision that engages the whole existence: understanding, heart, all strength and all action, following in His footsteps.
For his part, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows his sheep and gives them eternal life, in such a way that they will never be lost and, furthermore, no one will take them from his hand. Christ is the true Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep (cf. Jn 10:11), for us, sacrificing himself on the cross. He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. It is not about a superficial and external knowledge, nor just an intellectual knowledge. It is about a deep personal relationship, an integral knowledge of the heart, which ends up becoming friendship, because this is the logical consequence of a relationship between one who loves and one who is loved; in whom you know you can fully trust.
It is God the Father who has entrusted him with the care of his sheep. Everything is the fruit of the love of God the Father given to his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfills the mission that his Father has entrusted to him, which is the care of his sheep, with a fidelity that will not allow anyone to take them from his hand, with a love that leads him to give his life for them, in communion with the Father because "The Father and I are one" (Jn 10:30).
This is precisely where the source of our hope lies: in Christ the Good Shepherd whom we want to follow and whose voice we listen to for we know that eternal life is found only in Him. Here we find strength in the face of life's difficulties, we who are a weak flock and who are subjected to various tribulations.