We had to leave the invitational before it was over, but after all of Connor's events, so that we could go home, get ready, and get back into town for Connor's Confirmation to the Catholic Church. In addition, I was sponsoring a different young man for his Confirmation. The archbishop was there to officiate. There were a few minor hiccups as events did not quite go the way that they we rehearsed, but it was an overall nice mass and Sacrament.
The homily today focused on Jesus' role as the Good Shepherd. As the archbishop discussed how Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd to tie in Old Testament references as well as giving His audience something familiar, I wondered what sort of metaphor would be used today. Perhaps a veterinarian would work as someone who deals with animals but would still be commonly known. Maybe a daycare employee could cover the role of being someone who is protecting the defenseless while still guiding them--there might be an issue with leaving the others unattended to go after the one that is missing (not to mention having one go missing in the first place). As neither of those (nor others that I contemplated) seem to work, I wonder if Jesus decided to come to Earth 2,000 years ago just to have better metaphors for his parables.
One other side thought from the homily today was that the archbishop kept using the phrase "fired up." Now, I couldn't help hearing the Firebat voice from StarCraft II, but I wondered if the archbishop was intentionally using the phrase today since the Holy Spirit is often represented as a flame. Considering that our newly confirmed parishioners were told to "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" today, I'm hoping that they were indeed "fired up."