In Father Ron Zanoni’s new book, Come, Follow Me, he relates a story about a traveler who got to witness shepherding up close and personal. This fantastic book, drawn from some of Father Ron’s amazing homilies over his twenty years in the priesthood begins with this story:

“It seems that a gentleman traveling in Syria stopped one day to watch three shepherds who were at a well watering their flocks. He noticed that the three flocks were all mingled together at the watering place, and he could see no difference between them, and so he wondered how the shepherds would get them separated again without a lot of trouble. Just then one of the shepherds came forward and called out, ‘Menah,’ which the teller of this story understood to be the Arabic word for ‘Follow me.’ And sure enough, thirty sheep immediately separated themselves from the rest of the sheep and began to follow the shepherd up the hill. Then, a short time later, the second shepherd cried out ‘Menah,’ the same word, but from a different shepherd, and a second flock separated itself and started after him, while the rest of the sheep remained unconcerned, as if no one had spoken at all. While my research showed the actual meaning of the Arabic word is ‘gift from God,’ the meaning was clear to the sheep, perhaps that their shepherd valued them as a gift from God, therefore they chose to follow their own shepherd.

The traveler was so astonished that as he saw the third shepherd about to leave, he approached him and asked, ‘Would your sheep follow me if I called them?’ The man shook his head no. But the visitor insisted, ‘Give me your shepherd's cloak and your staff and let me try.’ So, he put on the shepherd’s cloak and took his staff. He even wound the shepherd’s turban round his head and then he too began to cry out, ‘Menah, Menah!’ but none of the sheep stirred; they only blinked at him lazily in the sunshine. ‘Do they ever follow anyone but you?’ asked the traveler. ‘Only me,’ said the shepherd, ‘Except when a sheep is sick, then it will follow anyone.’

The meaning is clear: the shepherd knows his sheep, and the sheep recognizes the shepherd’s voice. And we need to be spiritually healthy in order to be able to hear clearly the voice of our shepherd Jesus, the shepherd of our souls. Otherwise, we might just follow any voice that comes along.”

This is only the beginning of the story Father Ron weaves to help us all understand that we are called to follow the Good Shepherd and that God knows, loves, and values each of us enough to call us by name and invite us to follow him.

While you may not be called to follow the Good Shepherd by serving in the priesthood or religious life, you are called to be a priestly, prophetic, and royal person in the eyes of God. And we are all called to heed the call to “Come, Follow Me.” Whether we are young or old; male or female; black, brown or white; Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, or any other religion, or a non-believer; you will learn through this book that loving and serving your neighbor—that is everyone on this planet—is what we are all called to do. 

Pick up the book here and I guarantee you will find insights on how to follow the Good Shepherd, and that you will discover that the Good Shepherd knows you by name and cares about you.