John 10:14
I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me.
In the mideast, shepherds take care of sheep from the sheep’s infancy onward. Because of this, the sheep becomes particularly familiar with the shepherd and recognizes him even when it doesn’t understand him (as in fact a sheep never does, not being one of the brighter animals in the God’s creation). When a shepherd calls a sheep, the animal therefore does not respond to words. It does not even respond to the sound of its name (for unlike a pet it has none). It responds to the voice of the shepherd. In the same way, for centuries we as the Church have responded to the voice of the Good Shepherd long before we have figured out what he was saying. This is why the Church could worship Jesus as God long before it was able to iron out the technicalities of the Trinity or the complexities of the Incarnation of the Word. We sheep knew the Shepherd’s voice before we figured out his words. When he took to himself the Name of God and said, “I AM” (John 8:58) we knew it was truth long before we knew how we knew it was truth. Most revelation (including the revelation of falling in love) happens this way. The miracle occurs and hits us between the eyes in a way that is astounding yet undeniable. Then we spend the rest of our lives trying to articulate what happened to us. Happily, we are not sheep, only like sheep. God has given us tongues to articulate rather than just bleat. But what we articulate is always going to be a follow-up to what the Shepherd has shown us and where he has led. Let us walk in the ways he has shown us through the shepherds he has given us: the Pope and bishops of his Holy Catholic Church.
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