Newborn Lambs

Spring here in England is glorious. The crocuses spread like carpets, there are swaths of golden daffodils amid the grass, the birds’ symphonic song lifts your heart, and the tiny snow-white lambs—a quintessential sign of English springtime—appear in the fields. Their first wobbly steps soon turn to skipping and jumping. There is something about lambs that never fails to bring joy and wonder to human hearts.

            “These are the new-born lambs who have been crying out Alleluia…. They stand before the Lamb clothed in white garments.” This verse that we pray in the Liturgy of the Hours during the Easter Octave particularly struck me this year. It is a peculiar image: the comparison of newly-baptised adults with baby lambs. But there is something to it. The freshness of new life in Christ, perhaps first entered into with wobbly steps, the joy of being received into the flock of Christ, the snow-white baptismal garments—all this causes the hearts of newly baptised and life-long Christians alike to leap with joy and to wonder at the gift of life in Christ.

 This year at St. Ann’s Cathedral in Leeds, twenty-seven adults—mostly young adults—

were baptized at the Easter Vigil. Another twenty were received into the Church and/or were Confirmed. To hear our Bishop say over and over again, “I baptize you…” and then to see him, the Shepherd, anointing and embracing these new members of his flock was very moving. I saw one woman, say “yes!” softly but with great enthusiasm as she returned to her seat following her Confirmation.

The Diocese of Leeds is not alone in welcoming so many into the flock of Christ. Everywhere we are seeing many young people searching for truth, stability, love, meaning, and finding a home in the Church. These are our newborn lambs, and the wonder of the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ fills our hearts with joy. Our part, as mature and seasoned Catholics, is to welcome and accompany them. We can do this through our prayers, with the witness of our lives, by encouraging them to deeper prayer and fidelity to Christ, and by inviting them to be involved in the parish and the wider Church. At the same time we can draw inspiration from the newly baptized to be renewed in our own faith and discipleship.

During this Easter Season, let us, indeed, be renewed in joy and wonder as we recommit ourselves to living our new life in Jesus and encouraging others to do the same. May we, together with our new brothers and sisters in Christ, become saints in our lifetime!

Sr. Cecilia, CFR