CCC 754 “The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep.”1

CCC 764 “This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ.”2 To welcome Jesus’ word is to welcome “the Kingdom itself.”2 The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the “little flock” of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is.4 They form Jesus’ true family.5 To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new “way of acting” and a prayer of their own.6

CCC 2158 God calls each one by name.7 Everyone’s name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it.

1 LG 6; cf. Jn 10:1-10; Isa 40:11; Ezek 34:11-31; Jn 10:11; 1 Pet 5:4; Jn 10:11-16.
2 LG 5.
3 LG 5.
4 Lk 12:32; cf. Mt 10:16; 26:31; Jn 10:1-21.
5 Cf. Mt 12:49.
6 Cf. Mt 5-6.
7 Cf. Isa 43:1; Jn 10:3.