How will you tend his sheep?

When our first daughter was baptized and we promised to bring her up in the faith, my wife and I discovered a new challenge: We didn’t just need to practice the faith; we had to communicate it.

Following Jesus requires us to show a concrete expression of the love Jesus shares with us to those God has placed in our care. Jesus shows us the way through his instructions to St. Peter.

As the Gospel of John concludes (John 21), Peter is anxious about his relationship with Jesus. He is ashamed for denying Jesus three times when he was on trial. Jesus resolves this by pulling Peter aside and asking him three times: “Do you love me?” Three denials are reconciled by three affirmations. Notably, each time Peter answers “Yes,” Jesus tells him a variation of: “Tend my sheep.”

Built on the commands Jesus gave to Peter, the Church equips each follower of Jesus for ministry, which is a concrete way of expressing our love for God by service on Earth. Faithful service to others provides us the chance to encounter the Holy Spirit and deepen our own relationship with God.

This happens through various types of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral.

• Human formation, or growing in maturity, gives us a healthy awareness of our gifts, limitations and attachments so our service doesn’t become distorted or self-serving. We need the help of honest friends, a strong family and a good confessor to develop the human virtues — wisdom, justice, courage and self-control — to orient and ground our work.

• Spiritual formation orients our lives according to God’s word and grounds our service in our relationship with the Trinity. Peter needed a deep encounter with Jesus before being sent on mission. So do we. Learn more in the Enrich Your Faith section of the archdiocese’s website, archseattle.org.

• Intellectual formation enables us to know and communicate the faith. Parents whose 6-year-olds have asked, “How is that cracker the body of Christ?” understand that explaining our faith demands a respect for the intelligence of those we serve. Parents can find resources at athomewithfaith.org; those interested in teaching at their parishes can check out the Teach the Faith section of archseattle.org.

• Pastoral formation provides a foundation of knowledge, attitudes and skills needed by people serving in their parishes. If you feel called to serve, engage with your parish leaders to find out where help is needed. Check out the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Formation section of archseattle.org for resources. For those who have grown in service and feel God may be calling them to serve as a professional in the Church, Archbishop Etienne is launching a new formation program for lay ecclesial ministers. Send me an email to learn more.

As he did with Peter, Jesus calls to each of us, asking, “Do you love me?” and commanding, “Tend my sheep.” How will we respond?