213 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER84 Before Holy Communion 1. “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). Consider the three main duties of every shepherd: 1) to know his flock; 2) to know its number; and 3) to supply it with fodder and defend it from greedy wild animals. Notice that our all-good heavenly Shepherd fulfills all of them. He knows His sheep to which He Himself testifies: “I know my sheep and my own know me” (cf. Jn 10:14). He has them all recorded not on some perishable piece of paper nor with some erasable script, but in indelible letters on the palms of His divine hands, for He tells us: “Behold, I have graven you on the palms of [M]y hands” (Is 49:16). Next, notice how attentive He is in nourishing His flock, that is our souls, and realize that He invites us to receive this food in a clear and kind manner: “Come to me” He says, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28). Just how thorough the protection and defense He provides are has been clearly shown to us and is expressed by the prophetking: “For [H]e will give [H]is angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways” (Ps 91:11). Indeed, He Himself says to His flock, offering the most effective care and defense: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). But where? In the Most Holy Eucharist. Rejoice, O my soul, about having such an attentive, kind, and all-good Shepherd. Approach Him now with love, listen to His voice, and be obedient to Him. 2. “I am the good shepherd” (Jn 10:11). Consider that Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and careful Guardian, calls Himself the “good Shepherd” most rightly and justly. [f.48r] There is no one who would not attribute to David, the son of Jesse, the name of the good shepherd, at least on the grounds that he pursued and tore to pieces the wild animals (a bear and a 84 In the Novus Ordo this Sunday is the “Third Sunday of Easter.”
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