369 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts that he was not afraid to remove them from it even if one was the king who was corrupting the whole sheepfold.174 Finally, the last thing that remained for the good shepherd to do was to lay down his life for his sheep, when in defense of truth and justice he courageously stood up to the most rapacious wolf in order to be devoured. Oh, how many the good qualities in one shepherd! They are most worthy of praise and not too difficult to imitate. After Holy Communion 1. “I am the good [S]hepherd” (Jn 10:11). Consider that our Savior rightly calls Himself the Good Shepherd, for He refreshed you today with such abundant nourishment of His Body and Blood. You suffered from enormous hunger, your strength was failing you, you were weak, and you were totally unfit for any spiritual exercise. By inviting you to His table, He strengthened you with the sacred food and drink. As He refreshed Elijah with a hearth cake in past times (cf. 1 Kings 19:5-8), so He lifted you onto your feet and refreshed you with the angelic bread, so that you may follow pleasantly, firmly, and perseveringly the long way of perfection that lies ahead for you. Once, Jacob demanded remuneration from Laban for taking care of, breeding, and feeding the latter’s herd (cf. Gen 30:25-43). What are you going to give to Jesus the Good Shepherd in return for caring for your soul? Give Him yourself. 174 This was Boleslas II, the King of Poland, of whom we read: “After many acts of lust and cruelty, he outraged the whole kingdom by carrying off the wife of one of his nobles. Against this public scandal the chaste and gentle bishop … openly rebuked the king for his crime against God and his subjects, and threatened to excommunicate him if he persisted in his sin.… Boleslas made a show for a while of a better life. Soon, however, he relapsed into the most scandalous excesses, and the bishop, finding all remonstrance useless, pronounced the sentence of excommunication. In defiance of the censure, on May 8, 1079, the king went down to a chapel where the bishop himself was saying Mass … and slew the Saint at the altar with his own hand” (BLS (s.v. May 7 — St. Stanislas, Bishop, Martyr)).
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