Childhood Memories

How we never forget the day of First Holy Communion

04/21/2024

Jn 10:11-18 Jesus said: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."

There are some childhood memories we never forget. They are indelibly etched on our souls, as if chiseled on stone like the Ten Commandments were. Let me share two such memories for me that taught me how much God loves me. The first was when I was seven years old. My family left India and immigrated to the United States. I have shared this before about how traumatic that event was for little seven year-old Fr. John, because I felt like I had lost everything I knew.

But that trauma also taught me a great truth: even though I lose everything and everyone I know, I will never lose God. I often return in my mind to that experience of loss but also of gain, like a deep well where I can continue to draw the water of eternal truths. Have you endured any childhood traumas that taught you undeniable truths? They are unforgettable, and that is a good thing.

My second childhood memory occurred a year later when I was eight years old. My family had set up camp in Hillsboro, Texas. It was the day of my First Holy Communion. I can still picture perfectly in my mind kneeling in the front pew – because my last name starts with “A” so I was first in line! – feeling both super-nervous but also super-excited. My tie felt really tight around my neck and I thought I would choke on Jesus! But Jesus was very nice and easily dissolved in my mouth and I had no trouble swallowing my Savior.

That too was an unforgettable day because I became one with Jesus in such an intimate way that it can only be compared to how a husband and wife become one on their honeymoon night. How is that even possible? Well, just like the two become one flesh in marriage, so Jesus and I become one Flesh in Mass. That is why little boys and girls dress up like a bride and groom at their First Communion. To make the connection clear between marriage and the Mass. That was an unforgettable experience – chiseled on my soul like on a stone. And that is a good thing.

How providential, then, that on this Sunday we should celebrate so many First Holy Communions. Why is that? Well, because today is not only the fourth Sunday of Easter, but also Good Shepherd Sunday. Hence, the gospel reading is always taken from John 10, the eloquent portrayal of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. One distinctive characteristic of the Good Shepherd how he knows us. Jesus says: “I know mine and mine know me.”

But notice the knowledge Jesus means here is deeper than head knowledge, like we know that 2 plus 2 equals 4, or we know that Arkansas is located north of Mississippi. It is rather biblical knowledge like when Adam “knew” Eve and she conceived and bore a son. Or, when Mary asked the angel: “I do not know man” so how can I become the Mother of God? In other words, when the Good Shepherd knows his sheep he really means he wants to become one with us as a Husband and wife. The best descriptor of the Church is as the Bride of Christ.

Do you remember that dreamy song called “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole? I believe it captures what happens on the day of First Holy Communion. Listen to these lines: “Unforgettable, that’s what you are. / Unforgettable, though near or far / Like a song of love that clings to me / How the thought of you does things to me / Never before has someone been more / Unforgettable in every way / And forever more, that’s how you’ll stay / That’s why darling, it’s incredible / That someone so unforgettable / Thinks that I am unforgettable too.” That is, what really happens at our First Holy Communion is that not only does Jesus become unforgettable to us, we become unforgettable to him! We are chiseled on his soul as if on stone.

The day of our First Holy Communion we make childhood memories that we can never erase. And Jesus can't either. They are forever chiseled in our souls as if on stone. They are a deep well where we can constantly return and draw the water of profound truths. Jesus told the Samaritan woman who came to draw water at a well: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14). And that is a very good thing.

Praised be Jesus Christ!