What message does the image of the Good Shepherd have for us? Is it a valid message for the 21st century? The message is indeed current. Perhaps the figure of the Shepherd is an old image that has no room in our television screens. Maybe the comparison with the sheep gate does not evoke for us what it did for the people of Israel, a nomadic people for whom the shepherd’s life had a deep religious sense, because the Lord was the leader and guide of the people. He was their shepherd, and they the sheep of His flock, as the Psalmist sings both with pride and love. But the message is still current.

From the image of the Good Shepherd we learn the evangelical spirit of authority and leadership. The message is valid now more than ever, when we see the moral devaluation of authority, the apathy and distrust for leaders, the pharisaical attitude of many of the world’s rulers, the remoteness of some religious leaders, divorced as they are from the people by an impersonal, authoritarian style.

Gathered around the table of the Eucharist, around Christ, as a flock gathers around the shepherd, let us accept Christ’s leadership.