Mass for the Graduation of Catechists

Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Sunday, 20th November, 2005, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today at the end of the Church Year we come to celebrate the feast of Christ the King.  He, our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King, is the one who saves us.  He is the one whom we adore and whom we follow in our relationships and dealings with others.

It is a very fitting day when we present Certificates of Graduation to Catechists who will teach in our schools, praying that they will always be focused on Jesus Christ and his message, touched by his love, guided by his strength. 

Asking these same blessings for ourselves, let us call to mind our sins.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Church today gives us a very clear picture of the kind of King whom Jesus is.  He is the Good Shepherd.  He is personally interested in each of us.  He reaches out to his flock.

On this day when we congratulate our Catechists and present their Graduation Certificates the words of the Good Shepherd show that in addition to bishops and priests, who by ordination are teachers of the whole and entire faith, those who are called to be Catechists share in accordance with the teaching of the Universal Church in the work of imparting the faith.  I, as your bishop, commission these Catechists so that they will act always with the words and deeds of Christ, in the name of and totally faithful to the whole faith of the Church and generous in what they communicate to God’s people.

The Readings challenge us as to the type of king Jesus is.  Jesus the King is at the right hand of the Father and in the Last Judgement people from every nation under heaven will acknowledge Jesus’ sovereignty and rejoice in his power.  The whole world will be silent before his judgement and he will judge all of us with divine justice.  Yet in his role as king Jesus tends his flock as a shepherd. 

These words from the Readings, “I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view.  As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view.  I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness.”  (Ezekiel 34.11-12)

In the Psalm we know that the Lord is our Shepherd and we will want nothing.  Surely goodness and kindness from him will follow me all the days of my life.

Jesus’ role as king and shepherd are not things that are contradictory.  They are one and the same thing.  Jesus is our king because he rules with compassion and it is the same compassion and mercy that makes him ruler of all creation.  Because Jesus is so compassionate to people, as we saw in the Gospel, then we know that he is ruler of all, a ruler we can trust, a God whom we adore, a personal example whose deeds we can see during his life on earth.

So today remember that Jesus is our God.  Humbly we bow before him in worship.  We follow because he leads with his rod and staff to eternal life and with David, we declare, “The Lord is my shepherd.  There is nothing I shall want.  Lord Jesus, revive my drooping spirit, guide me along the right path.  With your goodness and kindness, follow me all the days of my life unto the Lord’s own house.”

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.