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(In this issue of “Servant Leader,” I share with you our
Cardinal’s homily on the occasion of Pope’s Day
delivered at the Manila Cathedral.)
The
promise to establish the Church was immediately followed
by the promise to entrust to the head of the Church the
authority to serve it and manage it. “I will give you
the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19).
The care
for the Church could only be guaranteed by the power to
serve. The key is only a symbol for authority. But
authority needs to be guided by wisdom. If authority is
unaided by understanding, it will be crushed by its own
weight. Tyrannical social rule has always crumbled
starting with serious cracks from within, as the manner
of paying service to its members betrays understanding
and concern. Bereft of sensitive recognition and
respect, authority becomes a treacherous ally.
Such
were the concerns of the Lord Jesus when He promised to
establish a Church. This Church will need a leader that
will use the power of leadership with extreme care and
respect. In the hands of the weak human leader, Church
leadership and authority can become a frightening style
of management that allows self-seeking and greed. Thus,
Church leadership demands extreme honesty, courage and
complete selflessness. And why is it said that
shepherding in the Church established by Jesus Christ
will demand such courage and integrity? The reason is
that whatever the Pope decides on earth, always for the
good, for the security and holiness of the Church, will
have absolute repercussion in heaven. “Whatever you bind
on earth will also be bound in heaven.”
Such a
critically responsible Church leadership is without
parallel in any institution on earth. Selfless servant
leadership exists only in the Church founded by Jesus
Christ. Thus, the Popes, beginning from Simon Peter,
approached the Papacy with legitimate fear, a sense of
personal frailty and the need for much help from God.
Quoting
from the reflection of Pope Benedict XVI on the second
day after his election:
“I have
been thinking about what happened in the region of
Cesarean of Philippi 2,000 years ago: I seemed to hear
the voice of Peter: ‘You are the Christ, Son of the
living God,’ and the solemn affirmation of the Lord:
‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.
. . I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’
“You are
Christ! You are Peter! It seems I am reliving this very
Gospel scene; I, the successor of Peter, repeat with
trepidation the words of the fishermen from Galilee, and
I listen again with intimate emotion to the reassuring
promise of the divine Master. If the weight of the
responsibility that now lies on my poor shoulders is
enormous, the divine power on which I can count is
surely immeasurable: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I
will build my Church.’ Electing me as the Bishop of
Rome, the Lord wanted me as His vicar, he wished me to
be the ‘rock’ upon which everyone may rest with
confidence. I ask Him to make up for the poverty of my
strength, that I may be a courageous and faithful pastor
of His flock, always docile to the inspiration of the
Spirit.’
“I will
undertake this special ministry, the Petrine ministry at
the service of the universal Church, with humble abandon
to the hands of the Providence of God. And it is to
Christ, in the first place, that I renew my total and
trustworthy adhesion (Pope Benedict XVI, Sistine Chapel,
April 20, 2005).
That
kind of reverent care and humble approach to authority
in leadership in the Church tells us that there is still
something more that must be paired with a perspective
and generous use of authority and responsibility in the
Church.
The Lord
Jesus Christ, after His glorious resurrection, at the
shores of Lake Tiberias asked Simon Peter to make a
triple confession of his love for the Lord. “Simon, son
of John, do you love Me more than these?. . . Feed My
lambs . . . feed My sheep.” (John 21:15-23). In this
manner, the Lord showed His disciples and Peter that
beyond a respectful “use of the keys” in the management
service in the Church leadership must be paired with
love. Compassion will ever be the companion of
shepherding. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, because
they were, as if, without shepherd. (Matthew 9:35-36).
But the
love Jesus expected of Peter was not love for the flock,
although that would be expected of the shepherd for the
flock. It is love for the Lord, the Good Shepherd that
Jesus exacted of the Chief Shepherd. Or, as Benedict XVI
said, “It is to Christ, in the first place, that I renew
my total and trustworthy adhesion.” It is love for
Christ, and not primarily for the flock, that is the
important issue for the shepherd.
The
shepherd loves Jesus; this is why He gave Himself to the
flock. If the faithful shepherd loves Jesus, the flock
will be safe. May the Lord keep us in safe pastures.
Amen.
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Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales,
D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
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