«We were wandering like sheep», St. Peter writes, and we have been brought back to the good shepherd, the «guardian of our souls». His way of guarding us, however, is singular: he does not leave us locked up in protected and safe enclosures. On the contrary, he “leads us out”, walking in front of us, guiding us with his voice, which the sheep have learned to recognize, distinguishing it from that of thieves and brigands, or strangers and mercenaries. Sometimes, as Psalm 22 recalls, this being “led out” makes us walk through dark valleys, in which we learn not to be afraid anymore, to “fear no evil”, not because we remain closed in protected places, but “because you are with me”. To guard us is not a place, they are not fences, walls, defenses, but a true and vital relationship: the relationship with the shepherd who guides us to the eternal pastures of the Father. He leads the sheep out of the “fence”: in Greek classrooms, a technical term to indicate the atrium of the temple in Jerusalem. The sheep were brought into the temple to be sacrificed to God. Now, however, it is the shepherd who enters to lead them out, in an inverted relationship with God: the sheep no longer have to be sacrificed to God, but he is the Son of God, a good shepherd, to offer his life for the sheep, so that they may have life in abundance.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey