Gathering the Sheep

This past Sunday of these Great Fifty Days of Easter offered us images of Jesus as Good Shepherd or as being the sheepgate. These images occasion metaphors reflected in the responsorial psalm and other hymns for the Eucharist of nurturing, feeding, watering, protecting, gathering, bringing the flock together, and inviting others to the fold.

The visit this week of His Holiness Benedict XVI has presented us with similar images, perhaps on a grander scale, of the pope as universal shepherd of the whole Church. His ministry as Bishop of Rome is the nurturing and caring of the sheep within the Church, which is done by the preaching and teaching of the gospel and by celebrating the sacramental life of the Church. His is the mission to gather and to invite the human family to the community of believers.

The celebration of the Easter mysteries and the visit of the Holy Father within this wonderful season invite our prayerful thought about the nurturing and the care of people within the Church. Each Sunday of Easter we have celebrated the gathering of the Church as the Body of Christ. We have been called and fed as God’s Word is broken and divided for the nourishment of God’s People. From the proclaimed Word we have moved in response to Christ’s invitation to gather at the Eucharistic Table. Our post Easter celebrations of the Eucharist are encounters with the Lord, once dead, but now risen among us.

Invitation into the Body of Christ
At the culmination of the Triduum, the Great Vigil of Easter witnessed the initiation of many new believers into the Church. Adults, children, families, and individuals were invited to the Christ mystery through Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. In Christ, those to be baptized passed through the baptismal waters from death to life within the faith community. Coming from the waters hands were imposed on them, calling the life-giving presence of the Spirit. In that Spirit they were anointed with the full energy and life of the believing community.

The Church, the Body of Christ, became most visible when these newly baptized and confirmed, came to the Lord’s Table for the first time. The priest, in presenting the Eucharistic Bread and Cup, invited their faith. “Body of Christ.” “Blood of Christ.” The now faithful believers joined the community in their “Amen”, “So-it-is”. They and the community of believers became what they ate and drank: the Body of Christ.

Who Are These Believers
Throughout the Easter Season we have prayed for these newly baptized, confirmed, and welcomed to the Lord’s Table. Who are they? Where did their journey begin? The combined community of “the elect”, those chosen for Initiation, are people from the catechumenal community of adults, who have sought out the Lord within the Church, and children and families, who have sought out the Lord in the Children’s Catechumenate. The adults are those called by God’s grace in Word and Sacrament to conversion and change of heart. The children, beyond the age of seven, were presented by the parents for baptism, confirmation, and First Communion. What joins the groups is that they have prayed and read the scriptures, studied the Catholic faith, and were joined by sponsors, parents, and other believers on this faith journey.

And, There's More to Come
Two more Initiation Events remain in our parish community. Both of these events are within our Hispanic community. The first event is on the Vigil of Pentecost when forty adults and young adults will be confirmed and some within that number will come to the Lord’s Table for the first time. A similar event will follow the Saturday after Pentecost when families will present their children for Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion.

The final two Initiation Celebrations this year are the first two Saturdays of May. The first Saturday, parents will present their children for First Communion in English. The second Saturday, our Hispanic parents will present their children at the Lord’s Table. They and we become the Body of Christ in these final celebrations of the Easter mysteries.

Believers and Shepherds
This initiation process of coming to faith is the feeding and nurturing of the believers within the community. The first imperative of shepherding is the call and invitation to the faith. Those already baptized are asked to invite their family, friends, and co-workers to consider a faith journey. People respond because they are invited by word, example, and lifestyle to follow the gospel. Think about who you might invite to our faith community. Gather adults, young adults, spouses, children, families, individuals. Gather them, feed them, and nourish them. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God. Speak the Word. The Church has grown in the blessed presence of the newly baptized-confirmed-and-welcomed at the Lord’s Table. Be a believer, be a shepherd, invite someone to the faith. Put them in touch with our priests, our religious educators, and our diverse communities of growing in the faith. Easter continues in the faith of the Church and in the welcoming of new believers among us.

CDH