Good Shepherd Sunday is another name for the Fourth Sunday of Easter. In all three liturgical year cycles, we hear a part of this allegorical narrative of Jesus the Good Shepherd from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. In today's reading, we hear Jesus declaring, "I am the good shepherd" – expressing his absolute and unchanging love for us. We know that "he calls his own sheep by name" so that we may live our Christian vocation to and in love.

Incidentally, vocation comes from the old Latin word "to call." Our Christian faith comes through the word of Christ in the Scripture (Rom. 10:17). What deepens our faith, according to Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, is the beauty, goodness, and truth of our lived experience from our day-to-day lives, which I like to call an education. My most recent earth-shaking education occurred in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) Atrium at St. Basil’s while observing children ages 3-6 responding to today's Gospel reading. Children are introduced to the absolute and nurturing Love of God through the image of Good Shepherd. The mind of young children can pay attention to detail, retain information, and ask poignant questions freely. The children are attracted to beautiful and small objects, mesmerized by hearing parables from the Scripture, and oriented towards what love is. They are whole persons, just like grown-ups, but in small bodies. They know Jesus is their shepherd, who calls them by name.

Like grown-up Christians, children are baptized Christians who live their vocations with dignity. Children's inherent capacity to absorb knowledge and information naturally from birth to age six is the foundation of CGS inspired by Dr. Maria Montessori's notion of the "Absorbent Mind.” CGS is designed to cultivate children’s pre-existent relationship with the Divine. As I learned in a year of clinical pastoral care education – serving as a chaplain in Neo-Natal ICU, acute care, stroke and neurorehabilitation, long-term, and palliative care units – our lives are fragile and can take turns beyond our control. Those who overcame their setbacks also often drew courage and strength from their early childhood memories, anchored in the unchanging. Knowing the value of this critical developmental stage, all seven members of the CGS catechist team gather monthly for a full day of training provided by the Archdiocese of Toronto to prepare for our weekly Sunday sessions with the children. The combined 49-plus hours of training for our service as catechists is essential for the integrated development of self with and for others. We too are learners. In CGS Atrium's time and space, there is only one Teacher.

The good news is that we are all: 1) “beloved” and 2) “God's children now”, as affirmed in today's second reading. It is never too late to renew our spiritual journey, and to recognize that it takes a village to raise a child! When it comes to living our vocation to love, we collaborate and muster all our talents, grounded in our Baptisms that strengthen us and bring us together as Christians. Above all, we trust in our Good Shepherd who is present and guiding us.

~ Jung-Un Christina Lee