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Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52; Ps 100: 1-2, 3, 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn 10: 27-30

"My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

Not long ago, the archdiocese of New York celebrated the opening of its bicentennial anniversary (15 April 2007) at St Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Egan as the main celebrant. Its faith-filled journey from humble beginnings reflected the growth of the Catholic population in this country as it emerged from its colonial past.

In its 200 years since 1808, New York, along with Philadelphia, Boston and Bardstown, Ky, what is now Louisville was carved out of the Diocese of Baltimore, which until then had been the single U.S. diocese. At that time the first bishop of the then diocese of NY was Bishop Richard Luke Concanen, O.P. In 1850 during the papacy of Pope Pius VII, NY became an archdiocese. Since then the archdiocese of NY continued to grow in legendary proportions with the number of parishes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and other programs and initiatives that contributed to the social, political and spiritual lives of Catholics. Right now, the archdiocese has 400 parishes and 273 schools that serve the people in the NY city boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, along with seven northern counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan.

Our yearlong celebration echoes our joyful thanks to God for this great milestone in the history of this great archdiocese. We celebrate a living history of our faith as Catholics.

Looking at our readings today, particularly in the gospel, Jesus' words "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me" speak volumes about us: our response to his voice to his call of discipleship. We, the church, are his sheep and he is our Shepherd. The word sheep, shepherds or shepherding is a favorite imagery in Christianity. In Ps 21 (The Lord is my shepherd) or in Jn 10:14 we read, Ego sum, pastor bonus (I am the good shepherd).

We hear the voice of the Good Shepherd through events in our lives. His voice comes to us in different forms and shapes, in our experiences especially in the context of relationships. Our bicentennial celebration is a voice to remind us that we are part of a local church, formed to proclaim God's truth and love in all that we are and in all that we do.' His voice comes to us in the cries of those who suffer, those who are sick, those who have lost their loved ones.

The other day I was reading the paper and I came across

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