From today's gospel: Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers. . . A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
De La Salle (Med. 201.3): "Tell the parents also what Jesus Christ said about the sheep of which he is the shepherd and which must be saved by him: I came, he said, that they might have life and have it to the full. For this had to have been the kind of ardent zeal you felt for the salvation of those you must instruct when you were led to sacrifice yourselves and to spend your whole life to give these children a Christian education and to procure for them the life of grace in this world and eternal life in the next."
"All in." I'm sure all of us have had those times when we have given everything to see a student succeed. Why do we keep doing this? Why will we do it again even as we approach final exams, as we reach the end of the semester? Because we are like the good shepherd. We know our students and what they need, we want them to have the fullness of life, and, because they know us, they trust that we are offering all that we can for them. Thank you for the times that you have brought your family to an event so that you can be there for our kids, spent your own money, brought in food, given up your Saturday, or woke up in the middle of the night because you had to write down that idea which would make the next lesson even better for your students. It is a blessing to be able to shepherd with you!
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!