Gospel Reading : John 10:11-16
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
What do the Fathers say?
St AUGUSTINE. There is but one Shepherd. For though the rulers of the Church, those who are her sons, and not hirelings, are shepherds, they are all members of that one Shepherd.
Peter is a shepherd, and all the other Apostles: all good Bishops are shepherds. He could not have added good, if there were not bad shepherds as well. They are thieves and robbers.
Pope St GREGORY the Great. The good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep. He did what He asked, He set the example of what He commanded: He laid down His life for the sheep, that He might convert His body and blood in our Sacrament, and feed with His flesh the sheep He had redeemed.
A path is shown to us wherein to walk, despising death; a stamp is applied to us, and we must submit to the impression. Our first duty is to spend our outward possessions upon the sheep; our last, if it be necessary, is to sacrifice our life for the same sheep.
St AUGUSTINE. Christ was not the only one who did this. And yet if they who did it are members of Him, one and the same Christ did it always. He was able to do it without them; they were not without Him.
All those who laid down their lives for the sheep were good shepherds, not because they shed their blood, but because they did it for the sheep. For they shed it not in pride, but in love.
Pope St GREGORY the Great. There are some who love earthly possessions more than the sheep, and do not deserve the name of a shepherd. He who feeds the Lord’s flock for the sake of temporal hire, and not for love, is a hireling, not a shepherd. A hireling is he who holds the place of shepherd, but does not seek the gain of souls, who pants after the good things of earth, and rejoices in the pride of his station.
St AUGUSTINE. He seeks therefore in the Church, not God, but something else. If he sought God he would be chaste; for the soul has but one lawful husband, God. Whoever seeks from God any thing beside God, seeks unchastely.
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman