After Father Robert became a monk at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, he was charged with caring for the abbey’s flock of sheep. During the Spring, he would spend countless hours in the sheep pen when the ewes were giving birth. Father Robert became an OB GYN vet for sheep. Just as with us human, birth for a ewe can be easy or it can be hard. Lambs would get stuck and he would have to pull them out. When a ewe had twins, which happened quite frequently, he would have to keep the first lamb close to its mother, let the mother smell the lamb and the lamb smell the mother so the lambs would know where they would go for their milk and protection.
Father Robert would ensure that the sheep had enough food and water. He would clean their pens and replace the dirty hay with clean bedding. He served as the father and mother to the flock. They knew that he cared for them.
During my first days at the monastery, I was walking near the fields where the sheep grazed and Father Robert was overseeing the flock. Like a proud father, he told me about his sheep. He recounted how they had given birth to their new lambs, how he was training Brother Samuel to care for the flock how he was concerned with a lamb that was not recovering from its tail cut.
Then he did the most amazing thing. It was getting late in the afternoon and the sheep had to return to the pen so he called them. Sheep, Sheep, Sheep Sheep. I thought he was crazy to imagine that the sheep would come to him. But no sooner did they hear his voice when they lifted their heads from the grass and began to meander down the field to their pens. I immediately thought of one of the lines from today’s Gospel: the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (Jn 10: 3)
As I returned to the monastery, I thought about Father Robert and the sheep. I wondered about the way he called them. Then it became clear to me why they came running to him. He cared for them. He fed them. He protected them. They knew that they could trust him. Of course they came to him when he called them.
The sound of the voice of the ones we love communicates to us more than just the words they say. They speak to us with their actions, with their concern, with their loving presence.
Like Father Robert, we all know what it feels like to hear the voice of the people whom we love. Do you have your cell phone set so when someone special calls you your phone has a special ring? Does your heart beat with joy when you hear that melody? We all have felt what it is like to hear the voice of people whom we love, people who love us. This warmth surges in our hearts.
As we hear this gospel, perhaps we can hear a deep call resound in our hearts. The call of our beloved Jesus inviting us to hear once again his voice. Jesus regularly calls to us, invites us, cares for us. What would it take for us to silence our hearts, to listen to his voice speaking to us, to hear his love in the silence, to taste his love in bread and wine. Jesus speaks to us every day, calls out to us, invites us.
Spring comes as a wonderful time to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. In the Spring the beauty of nature surrounds us and we are drunk with the splendor of flowers and trees in bloom. Perhaps their pollen might be too much for you. Perhaps you can find some time just for yourself to steal away to a park, sit on a bench and behold the beauty of a garden. You may want to go the garden shop and pick up some pansies and plant them in your flower box. Or just find that special place where God sneaks into your heart and spend some time listening to that soft, tender voice of Jesus.
Easter comes as this special time for contemplation and relaxing in God’s beauty. Enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. Heard the voice that invites you closer to the shepherd’s heart. Hear that voice speak you name. As only the shepherd can speak it. As you return to your home, hear that voice ever calling you to your loving shepherd, to your true home.