The Shepherd still defends His sheep

"The good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep has not left us even now. He is present and tends and guides and knows his own, and is known by his own. And, though bodily invisible, [he] is spiritually recognized, and defends his flock against the wolves, and allows no one to climb over into the fold as a robber and traitor."

St. Gregory of Nazianzus

On the Death of His Father, Oration 18.4