One Flock, One Shepherd: The Mother Who Gathers

Voice over by Esther Joyce

Acts 11:1-18, Psalm: 41, Jn 10:11-18

Memorial of Our Lady of Montserrat, Catalonia’s patron saint

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

On this Memorial of Our Lady of Montserrat, the beloved patroness of Catalonia, the Church presents us with a Gospel that speaks of shepherds and sheep, of laying down life and taking it up again. But today, on this feast of a Mother who has drawn countless pilgrims to her mountain shrine, we hear the Gospel’s call to unity: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter faces a crisis. He has returned to Jerusalem, and the circumcised believers confront him: “You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” For the early Church, the question of who belonged was urgent. Can Gentiles be part of the people of God without becoming Jews? Peter recounts his vision—the sheet lowered from heaven, the voice commanding, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” Then the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles just as it had upon them at Pentecost. Peter’s conclusion is revolutionary: “If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” The Church’s borders expand. The fold grows.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus declares His mission: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He is not a hired hand who flees at danger. He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. But then He adds the stunning words: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Jesus already sees beyond the boundaries of Israel. His mission is universal. His flock will be gathered from every nation, every language, every people.

Our Lady of Montserrat stands at the crossroads of this universal gathering. The Black Madonna of Montserrat has drawn pilgrims for centuries—from Catalonia, from Spain, from the ends of the earth. Her shrine is not a place of exclusion but of welcome. The Benedictine monastery there has been a sanctuary for the lost, a place of encounter for the seeking, a home for the wandering. She is the Mother who points to the Good Shepherd, the one who gathers all into one fold.

Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on this Gospel, said, “The Lord’s voice crosses all borders. It is the voice of the Good Shepherd who seeks His sheep wherever they are scattered.” And St. John Paul II, who loved Montserrat, reminded us that Mary is the one who “leads us to the Shepherd.”

For us today, the message is urgent. Do we, like Peter’s critics, build walls around the flock? Do we decide who belongs and who does not? Or do we trust the Shepherd who said, “I have other sheep”? Do we welcome the stranger, the different one, the one who seems not to belong?

This Easter season, let us open the fold. Let us trust that the Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and they know His voice. And let us ask Our Lady of Montserrat, the Mother who gathers, to teach us how to be a Church that welcomes all, one flock under one Shepherd, until all hear the voice that calls them by name. Amen.

May God bless you all!