FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
8 MAY 2022
In 1954,
Sofia Cavalletti, an Italian theologian, teamed up with Gianna Gobbi to create
a better way for students to learn about Jesus.
Gianna was a Montessori teacher.
She had learned to use children’s natural curiosity to create hands-on
experiences through which they can learn and explore. Gianna’s classrooms created a calm and
peaceful environment by focusing on details such as volume of people’s voices
and the classroom layout. Together, they
created a new religious education program called the Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd.
Theresa
Depung and the catechists who work with her have gone through extensive
training to offer the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to our parish. The children gather in what are called
atria. In the first atrium, the youngest
children from the age of three to six gather around a wooden statue of a
shepherd and a number of wooden sheep inside a fence. Many lessons revolve around this
centerpiece. In this calm environment,
the catechists use the children’s natural curiosity to connect with the
shepherd and his role with the sheep. As
the children advance to the next two atria, they grow to understand that the
Good Shepherd knows each of them by name.
The Good Shepherd loves them and calls them to himself. Our children understand the artwork on our triumphal
arch in the church. They are the sheep
being called by the Good Shepherd. They
understand that the Good Shepherd wants each of them to sit in his lap in the
eternal kingdom, just as the lamb is pictured on his lap on the triumphal arch.
In
their own uncomplicated way, our children believe these truths from the
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. During
the past two Sundays, we have seen their faith as they received the Lamb of God
present in their First Holy Communion.
They also understand the truth about their status as sheep. Sheep have no natural defenses of their
own. They have no claws to fight back
against wolves hungry for mutton. They get
lost very easily. They rely totally on
the care of their Good Shepherd. They
invite us to imitate their faith and be humble enough to recognize ourselves as
the sheep of the flock. We have no
natural defenses against the wolves that want to devour us. We get lost very easily. We need to increase our trust in the Good
Shepherd who knows each of us by name and who has laid down his life for us out
of his intense love for us.
In
the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas are attacked by wolves persecuting
them and expelling them from their territory.
They shake the dust of hatred and jealousy from their feet and go on to
Iconium. There, they will continue to
proclaim fearlessly the Paschal Mystery, trusting that the Good Shepherd is
with them and feeds them with his own Body and Blood.
We
do not need to look far to recognize the wolves that seek to devour our faith
and take us away from the Good Shepherd.
The wolves of anger and bitterness have been chasing us for the past two
years and want to continue the divisions that we suffered in the pandemic. The wolves of abuse of power and control want
us to think that we can continue by relying on our own abilities and talents. The wolves of greed and jealousy lure us away
from a sense of gratitude for the gifts we have received. The wolves are after us these days to erode
our conviction that life begins with conception in the womb and needs protection.
On
this Good Shepherd Sunday, we express our gratitude for our mothers. They named us and provided for our every need
when we were vulnerable and without any defenses of our own. They continued to show us the love of a
shepherd as we grew and thought we knew better than they did. Our mothers have sacrificed and laid down
their lives for us. They give us a
glimpse into the love of the Good Shepherd.
For that, we are grateful and give them thanks.
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