Lead the Lambs

Hello my friends! I love you! 

This weekend, I'm looking forward to speaking about our Children's Faith Formation program. We have the largest program in the diocese*, and I love to brag about the amazing children, families, and volunteers who make everything possible.

But first, I want to talk about farming.

Like many millennials, I am infatuated with the idea of homesteading. I myself keep bees and chickens, tend a garden, and do my best to get dirt under my nails. 

In today's Gospel, Jesus shares a homesteading lesson: Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and the sheep know His voice, and listen to Him. The idea that sheep can listen in this way is intriguing. As someone who loves the idea of farming, but lacks familiarity with sheep, I did what most people my age do: I googled. 

As it turns out, sheep are pretty amazing, and I’m adding them to my list (shh, don’t tell my husband, Dale!). 

Sheep are emotionally perceptive, social creatures. They not only learn to know the voices of the shepherds who care for them, but they learn to know the sounds of their steps, the vehicles they drive, and specific words and names they use. Sheep have personalities, desire praise, love recognition, and appreciate treats. 

Additionally, when lambs are born, they stay in family groups, and they learn from other sheep through “flocking” - which not only teaches them essential basics (eating, avoiding danger), but also more nuanced skills like communication, flock hierarchy, acceptable sheep behavior, and who to trust (like a good shepherd). These lessons happen primarily through mother-child interactions, but are also reinforced at a flock level.

The lambs do not automatically know how to live, or, more importantly, who to listen to. They are taught.

As a mother of five children, this is familiar to me.

Most of us understand family life, and how children are raised into adults. Just like raising lambs, raising children requires (1) parents and (2) community. While some claim that parents have little influence upon children, the data shows the opposite: parents are their children's number one most important influence, especially when it comes to passing on the faith. 

Parents teach children to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd in many ways - through prayers, Bible stories, traditions, and more. But, parents can also show children the faith in more than words by getting involved at church. Children are watching, and when they see parents get involved in parish life, this makes a lasting impression - the data is clear on this. This is especially true if they see their parents taking time to teach them, and their friends, about the faith through our Children's Faith Formation program.

We have great opportunities to share in your children’s faiths in the children's program: we have 10 classrooms to fill with catechists, we have spaces that need monitoring while classes are in session, and we have families who need to see holy habits modeled through our Guides program.

The Voice of the Good Shepherd is calling helpers for this new generation. If you are feeling a tug on your heart, He may be calling you. Talk to me, and the other volunteers familiar with the program, to learn more, and to get involved in the life of our parish, in the lives of our families, and the lives of our children.

*There isn't great data on this, but I have not heard of one that is larger, so I'm making this claim and seeing if anyone comes forward to contradict me.