"He calls his own sheep by name."

It's easy to skip over that line. But stay with it.

Jesus doesn't manage a flock. He doesn't track a herd. He calls each sheep by name.

He knows you. Not "you" in the abstract - not humanity in general - but YOU. Your name. Your story. Your struggles. The things you've never told anyone.

He knows - and he calls.

But here's the question the Gospel raises: Do you recognize his voice?

The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They won't follow a stranger - they run away, because they don't recognize the voice of strangers.

How do sheep learn to recognize a voice? By spending time with the shepherd. By hearing that voice over and over - in the morning, in the evening, in the quiet moments, in the dangerous ones.

We learn to recognize the voice of Jesus in prayer, in Scripture, in the sacraments, in the community. The more time we spend with him, the more we recognize him. And the more we recognize him, the less we're fooled by the strangers.

"I came so that they might have life - and have it more abundantly."

He's calling your name right now. Can you hear him?