Sheep are extremely vulnerable animals, open to attacks and bodily harm, easily led astray and confused. Sheep need a shepherd to guide them. They need the safety of a sheepfold where they can play and grow and reproduce and discover and enjoy their world.

In Palestine at the time of our Lord there were two types of sheepfolds: communal and hill-side. During the day the flocks gazed on the hill sides and in the open fields. Then, at the end of the day they were led into town where they shared communal sheepfolds. These folds were fenced-in areas with a strong gate. A gatekeeper stood guard throughout the night. Only the gatekeeper possessed the key to the gate. In the morning each shepherd came to the communal sheepfold. If the gatekeeper recognized him, that shepherd was allowed to call his sheep and lead them out of the fold. Although many flocks shared the same fold, each sheep recognized his shepherd's voice and followed him.

When the days were warm, the flocks spent the night in hill-side sheepfolds. These folds were not fenced in areas. They were enclosed by rock walls or caves with a narrow opening through which the sheep came in and went out. The shepherd was both the gate and the gatekeeper. He would lie across the opening at night. The sheep could only get out and back in by stepping over their shepherd. The shepherd knew everything about each member of his flock.

Jesus says, "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." One takes comfort and finds courage when he can come and go without fear and when he can have his daily needs met. This is exactly what total faith in God brings.

Our Savior continues, "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." God laid down His life for all mankind. He opened the gates to heaven for all His children.

Our Lord and our God concludes, "I have other sheep who do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

Can the meaning of these words taken from Jn 10 and spoken by God have any other meaning than this: there is one God and one Church?

Jesus has one plan for mankind. He sees one shepherd, one flock, and one sheepfold. Jesus is the one true shepherd. Every man, woman, and child who has ever lived is a member of the one flock. The Catholic Church is the one sheep-fold. Vatican II was exceptionally clear when it stated in Lumen gentium (6), "The Church is a sheepfold whose one and necessary door [gate] 1 is Christ. She is a flock of which God Himself foretold that He would be the Shepherd. Although guided by human shepherds, her sheep are nevertheless ceaselessly led and nourished by Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd and the Prince of Shepherds who gave His life for the sheep." (1 word added.)

Jesus remains forever the one true shepherd of His universal Church. Yet, the Pope (Christ's vicar on earth) and the bishops (the successors to the Apostles) are the earthly shepherds who will shepherd the Church until the Second Coming. In Mt 16:15, Jesus asks the Apostles a second time, "But who do you say that I am?" Only Simon Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus reveals that our heavenly Father placed these words on Peter's lips. Then in Mt 16:18, Jesus says, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." With these words, God established His one Church---not multiple churches---and His one earthly shepherd over the one Church. Jesus' words made Peter the first pope. As God's shepherd, the Pope is the final voice of the Holy Spirit on earth.

In Mt 18:15-18, Jesus reveals His blueprint for how issues among the flock shall be resolved: the Church will have final authority. In this passage, God also gives the Apostles, in union with Peter, the authority to bind and loose on earth.

The Church---its structure and authority---established in the first century by God, continues today. The Pope and the bishops are its shepherds. God's sacramental grace flows through His sacraments and His Church.

"Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by God through Jesus Christ, would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved." These are the words of Vatican II, Lumen gentium (14); but this teaching (that salvation is through the Church) has been the oral and written Tradition of the Church from the beginning of Christianity. Salvation flows through the Catholic Church and the one gatekeeper, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is bodily present to us through the Church; the vehicle through which we receive His sacraments and the grace necessary for entry through the narrow gates of heaven.

For more insight read CCC paragraphs 424, 442, 452, 811-819, 833-848, 886, 1257. Also, pull out your "Catholic" Bible and reference 2 Sam 7:9-14; Is 40:11; Mt 16:13-19; 18:15-18; 28:20; Lk 12:48; Jn 10:1-21; 15:1-5, 22; 17:17-23; 21:15-17; Acts 4:12; Rom 12:1-6; 15:5-6; 16:17-18; 1 Cor 1:10-13; 12:13; 14:33; Eph 4:3-6; Phil 2:2; Col 1:15-18; 3:15; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 5:4.