Shepherd's Staff

Some would say that our work in the Chancery is not pastoral, unlike that of those in the parish. Maybe that is true, but I think, only partially. While we in the Chancery are not in one parish, we work for all parishes. While we do not serve a particular section of the People of God in Nueva Segovia, we are for each and all of the People of God in Nueva Segovia. We do not shepherd a particular flock, but we serve with the Archbishop’s shepherding of the Archdiocese.

I prayed during my ordination that I may be a "shepherd after the heart of God." Right now, I am not a shepherd of a particular flock. And I am struggling to be "after the heart of God". But I find meaning in my present ministry as being a staff of a shepherd.

The staff is an instrument of the shepherd – to strike and drive away wolves attempting to ravish the flock, to guide the sheep towards the sheep gate, to pull back and draw to himself any sheep when it strays from the fold, and also to lean onto when the tediousness of shepherding takes its toll on him.

The rough surface of the staff many times bruises the sheep as the bend is used to pull the sheep back by the neck. The same surface, often uneven, sometimes serrated, bruises even the shepherd as he grips the staff.

The staff may be useful to the shepherd, but it may be disliked by the sheep, and abhorred by the wolves.

Although tough and sturdy, the staff could also be cracked with striking, even bitten by the wolves, trampled on by the sheep, or broken to pieces.

At the end of the day, the shepherd may put it aside. After all, it is not indispensable. The joy of the staff is that it has been of use to the shepherd.