Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  This reality fills us with confidence in following Christ.  Jesus is also the gate into the fullness of life and into eternal life.   Entering this gate entails conversion.  We need to leave behind whatever keeps us from following Christ.  Conversion demands courage, however, because the gate to life is narrow and the path is difficult.   We need courage to fight against sin, to recognize it in the first place, and to accept the tension that our Christian life can cause in our contemporary world.  Since Jesus is our Shepherd, however, this courage is made possible through trust in him.  He is always at our side, with his rod and his staff.

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