EASTER - FOURTH SUNDAY C
LEADERS IN NEED OF A
LEADER
Summer time is not complete
without leadership training seminars. There’s always one for students, for parish workers,
for parish youth… for everybody.
Leadership seminars are the most famous summer activities in town.
What happens in a leadership
seminar? The goal of such training
programs is to convince you that there is a leader in you. “You are a leader!” You have the
potential. Now, get the confidence
to go out in the world and blaze a trail.
It seems the world is in constant
need of leaders. And it is true that God has made each of us capable of
becoming leaders in our own right.
We are leaders of one another, whether we like it or not.
The Gospel today speaks of Jesus’
own style of leadership. More than
just a leader, Jesus is above all a shepherd. This image is very close to the heart of biblical religion. This image is one of Jesus’ favorite
self-descriptions. A shepherd is both a strong and tender leader. A shepherd leads the way to a clear
direction.
He knows his sheep. He protects his sheep. He nourishes his
sheep. But as Jesus says, he
prepares the sheep for eternal life, for what is ultimately good, even if the
sheep do not always see it that way.
While we are all leaders, we make
a mess of our leadership roles. We
fail to focus on a reliable and credible model. We also fail in realizing that we need first to follow the
most authentic leader before we become one. Without a relationship with Jesus,
how can we lead others to goodness and faithfulness?
Do fathers lead their children or
corrupt them with vices? Do
mothers lead their children to a better life or disappoint them? When parents are not strong in faith
and in the conviction that they must lead, the children look somewhere else.
Do politicians lead us to real
progress? Unless their consciences
are guided by God, their only goal is to amass more power and more wealth.
Do you have friends? Then that makes you a leader to your
friends. But why is it that often, we lead our friends to activities that
weaken their character instead of making them strong? It is because we do not love our friends as Jesus loves
them.
We all need leadership training
so that we can lead one another to that which is good for all. It is important to focus our eyes on
the Lord. But more important, we
need to follow the Lord first. He
alone can transform us and empower us to become the leader this world needs,
your family needs, your society and Church need.
Let us pray that in our own
little and simple way, we may lead other people to Christ.
