Other Sheep

And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, and one shepherd.
Jn.10:16

Jesus has called himself the Good Shepherd. He adds that there are others as well who listen to his voice, essentially making one flock and one shepherd.

An unbelieving world looks at the disunity among Christian denominations and finds it unbelievable. To our shame, the Church's disunity would be one of the greatest causes of atheism in the world today.

Jesus always had his eye on the "other sheep", those on the outside of Judaism. The only qualifier he gives is that they "listen to my voice". There are lots of people outside of my denomination who obviously listen to Jesus' voice. One such friend is currently in Thailand, taking over a ministry his church runs there. Impressive obedience to the voice of Jesus.

I love being Catholic, probably as much as Jesus loved being a Jew. But like Jesus, I need to keep an eye on those outside my pen. There's much goodness there and much I can learn from them.

Jesus, you are the one shepherd of the flock. Help me reach out to others who listen to your voice.
Saint Ambrose, please pray for me.