Good shepherds, good leaders

The story is told about a man who was stuck in a big traffic jam. He noticed that another man was going from car to car and asked him what was happening. The man said that terrorists had taken a busload of politicians as hostages, and were threatening to set the bus on fire if ransom of P10 billion was not raised. When asked how much had already been raised, the man said, “Zero on the money. But gasoline, matches, and lighters are being given generously.”

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Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Our leaders are our shepherds. They must be good shepherds! Soon we will be electing our leaders. Let us make sure that we elect good shepherds. Let us choose leaders wisely, and let us pray to the Holy Spirit to spare us from leaders who lie, cheat, steal, and kill. Lord, give us good and able leaders in our land.

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In today’s Gospel (Jn. 10, 27-30), Jesus, the Good Shepherd, assures us of His presence and protection. “No one can take them out of my hand.” Let this be a warning to false shepherds who harm the Lord’s flock. You are answerable to the Good Shepherd Himself.

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A good shepherd has to be present to his or her people. Nowadays, our politicians make their presence felt by all means, and by any means. But once they are elected, many of them disappear and do not even care. Nowadays, they reach out to the people. Once elected, they snub the people and become unreachable stars.

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“Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing right things. Excellence is doing right things right.” Let us vote for efficient, effective and excellent leaders. Let us raise the bar. Let not popularity, money, affiliations and selfish considerations blind us from choosing the right persons for the positions.

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A leader is someone who leads. Let us ask ourselves where a candidate will lead us! Let us make sure that the leaders we elect will not lead us to hell. We are a people, a nation, on a journey. Let us choose leaders who will make us go forward, together, and who will set a faster pace for our progress.

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Today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Let us pray for more vocations to priestly and religious life. Let us pray for our religious leaders to become shepherds with a heart. We have all sorts of priests. We have healing priests, singing priests, busy priests, etc. We need more kneeling priests. A priest who does not pray really has nothing to say. Intimacy with our Good Shepherd is the source of everything we do or say.

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Parents are shepherds. Remember that success outside the home cannot compensate for failure inside the home. It is a big, fast and crazy world outside the home. Inside the home must be peace, security, harmony and unity. Parents must make sure that this is so.

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By the way, there is no such thing as a perfect family. All families have problems. What makes a family a family is the commitment not to give up on one another, no matter what. Again, the most important requirement for parents to be good shepherds is presence. Physical presence, emotional presence and spiritual presence are the best presents to the children.

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We’re having very warm weather these days! We Filipinos can cope with anything. We just grin and bear it. One thing going for us is our faith, and our belief that we will survive, and that there is something good, something better up ahead. Soon, the rains will come. Summer is not forever. Just keep going. Keep going!

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We would like to thank the following people who made our Lenten TV special (March 24, Holy Thursday/March 25 Good Friday) possible and meaningful: Sheena Marie Dumadag, Ramon Bueno, Grace Princesa, Joseph Chua, Kim Karlo Matillano, Irma Santiago, Chad Borja (who gave a beautiful rendition of “Use Me”), Cris Monroy, Maricel Mortel, Lucy Chua, Maryann Rollon, Prince Leo de Guzman and Clare Geronima Borja.

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Missiology for Superiors and Formators will be offered at the Divine Word Institute of Missiology, Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City, on April 24-May 8. This course is designed as part of the ongoing formation of superiors and formators in missiology. It is a live-in seminar designed to give the participants the opportunity to share among themselves their experiences and programs of formation for mission. For inquiries, please contact Ms Suzette at 09234792989 or 09499523830, or e-mail dwims.secretary@ gmail.com.

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Think about this: “People will trust you for your honesty, not for your majesty; people will love you for your affection, not for your perfection; people will always support you for your humility and kindness; people will remember you for how you made them feel important.”

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A moment with the Lord:

Lord, You are the Good Shepherd. Give us good and able leaders in our land. Amen.