Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
On Sunday, during the responsorial psalm, my 3 year looked up at me and excitedly yelled (a little too loudly for Church), “Mommy, it’s the catechesis of the Good Shepherd!” I had to smile and get excited with him, because I think that the heart of our faith can be found in the lesson of the Good Shepherd.
Owen just recently started attending the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at Immaculate Conception parish. He is always hesitant and a little bit resistant to go, but once he gets there he loves the class. Something that I love about the Montessori style of this class is how much they encourage him to play on his own and to decide what “work” he wants to do, without much adult guidance. Now whenever we hear a reading about sheep or shepherd, such as today’s, he makes sure that I know what they are talking about.
As we hear today, Christ, as our shepherd, knows us each and will wait for us to repent and to return to him. He will not force us to do this, but he will go looking for us, searching for us and will excitedly bring us home rejoicing. I see a mirror to Owen’s approach to CGS. Much like Owen, we often approach God and His call hesitantly, with some reservation and fear. We aren’t sure what we are going to be asked to do, if we will like it and if we will feel safe and secure doing what God asks. But often, like Owen at CGS, once we have really opened ourselves up to a relationship with God and are open to His call and His workings in our life, we find that we are happy to be there, with God.
Much like CGS, God doesn’t force us to act certain ways or to do certain things – He presents this whole world to us and allows us to choose how to act and what “work” we will do to bring forth the Kingdom. The challenge to us is to work for God’s kingdom and to have childlike enthusiasm, spreading the message of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to all we meet.
- Amanda Grimm