Pope Francis on Sunday offered this meditation on the Good Shepherd (excerpted here):
The Good Shepherd is attentive to each one of us. He searches for us and he loves us, speaking to us, knowing us in the depths of our hearts, our desires, our hopes, as well as our failures and deceptions. He takes us in just as we are, with our defects and our virtues. For each one of us, he “gives eternal life”: that is, he offers us the possibility of living a full life, a life without end. As well, he cares for us and guides us with love, helping us to journey along the perilous paths and oftentimes risky roads that come up during life.
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Three of the oldest images of Jesus portray him as the “Good Shepherd”