He it is who makes a single flock of holy sheep from every race under the heavens without exception. Every day he fulfills the promise he made when he said: “I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
It was to Saint Peter in the first place that he said: “Feed my sheep.” But it is he alone, the Lord who directs all the shepherds in the discharge of their office; all who come to the rock he feeds in rich and well-watered pastures. The good shepherd in his goodness laid down his life for his sheep; so too his countless sheep are strengthened and nourished by love, and do not hesitate in their turn to die for the sake of their shepherd.
He it is whose sufferings are shared by the martyrs with their glorious courage and by all those who believe and are born again at the moment of their regeneration.
This is why we duly celebrate the Lord’s Pasch with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our old malice is thrown away, and a new creature drinks deep and feeds upon the Lord himself.
For our participation in the body and blood of Christ has this effect: it makes us become what we receive; it enables us, with our whole being, in our spirit and our flesh, to bear him in whom and with whom we have died and been buried and risen again.
– Sermon 12 on the Passion. Taken from “From the Fathers to the Churches“