Good Shepherd Sunday and the Little Lambs of St. Agnes

In general, people don’t like being called “sheep.” In our day and age, the term is loaded with the negative connotation of people who are easily led or misled, blind followers, uncritical thinkers. We like to hold ourselves to a higher opinion of “free thinkers,” independents, and trend-setters, rather than be part of an anonymous “flock.”

So, what do we do when the Lord calls us His “sheep”? Are we offended or comforted? I think that when we look to Jesus and see Him as our Good Shepherd, we find that image comforting and being a sheep of the Lord’s flock becomes a source of peace and security.  I like being one of God’s sheep.

We are gathered here at St. Agnes – a saint whose name is derived from the Latin word for lamb, “agnus.” Hence, the statue of our patroness holding a little lamb here. For years, countless “little lambs” (myself included) have passed through the halls of our school and this church. It was here that we encountered our Shepherd Jesus; here that we were taught to pray; here that we received our First Communions, the mercy of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the Gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation. It was here that many of us have returned to be married and have our own children baptized; and it is here that we are moved to return to bid farewell to our school and give God thanks for all those holy moments.

We return here, because this is our sheepfold. It is here that our young and tender faith was first nurtured and strengthened. We give thanks for the many priests, sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and lay leaders who shared their faith so generously with us – these are our shepherds who imitated the Good Shepherd in offering of themselves for us. Thank you, sisters, for your faithful presence to us and the many lessons that we learned from you – many of which continue to impact my daily life. (I remember Sr. Anchen teaching us, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!" I still pray that every day!)

We come back here today because we feel called by our Shepherd. Maybe that call came in the form of the announcement of the closing of our beloved school; but God works through everything for those who are tuned to His voice. And we are here because we are His people, the flock of the Lord. As heirs to the spiritual tradition of St. Agnes, we, the little lambs, look now to the Lamb of God. We should seek each day to conform ourselves more and more to Jesus the Lamb, to His Sacred Heart, and to the lessons of love and compassion that we have learned in this sheepfold.

In this way, we can rejoice in being called “sheep,” because it implies that we belong to the Shepherd. We can live gratefully for what we have experienced here at St. Agnes School – for all the Spring Galas, the bingos, the Scout meetings, the field days, and class trips to Fort McHenry, the lunchroom mothers, for Shaw’s buses and being picked up on Korvette’s parking lot, for visits to the classroom from our priests, and the hourly chimes of the church bells throughout our days. These are the shared memories that bind us together as the sheep of St. Agnes. We know them, and they remind us of simpler times when we may have been even better tuned to the Shepherd’s voice.

But these things need not be simply part of our memory. Because gratitude should engender hope. Just because one chapter in our parish’s history closes, it does not mean that we need to close the entire book. Jesus still gathers us together; His voice still resonates in His Church and in our hearts. Because we belong to Him, no one can take us out of God’s hands.  To live gratefully means that we forge these same bonds that we celebrate today every day, and we allow God to continue to gather us here.

We can harken to our new Pope Leo’s words as we move forward: “Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we move forward. We are disciples of Christ. Christ precedes us. The world needs His light. Humanity needs Him as the bridge that allows it to be reached by God and by His love.”

When we come forward today to receive Holy Communion, we should remember that first time that we did so – for most of us, that was right here in this church. The same light that shines through these same windows will continue to shine on new lambs. The Lamb of God will see to that.

To be called a sheep is far from an insult. It is a loving recognition that we belong to something – to Someone. To be one of these little lambs of St. Agnes is a special privilege that we all know. Belonging to the Shepherd means more than a simple “like” on Facebook or watching events from a distance. It means involvement; and for us that means discipleship. One of the things that helped St. Agnes School thrive was the deep involvement of our families in the life of the school and parish. We knew one another; we cared about one another; even the teachers and priests knew our families’ successes and hardships. That was because we rejoiced to be sheep in the same flock, under the same Shepherd.

Today, there are many shepherds and many voices that wrestle for our attention. Our experience here should call us back to the one Voice that speaks to us of peace and eternal life. That is the promise of being a sheep in the flock of the Lord. That is what we all hope for.

In our world, people don’t like being called “sheep.” But today, in the light of all we have shared and celebrated, we are rejoicing that Jesus calls us His own. And in His flock, we are one.