Homily of Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, D.D. during the Episcopal Ordination of
Bishop Reynaldo Gonda Evangelista
at the Cathedral of San Sebastian, Lipa City
on January 26, 2005

The search for a shepherd.  

When looking for co-workers in a Christian community the apostles instructed the elders to look for men of good reputation, holy and wise. (Acts 6:3) But when our Lord Jesus Christ was about to entrust the care of the flock of people to Simon Peter, the question that was asked three times was “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15).

Love is the indispensable quality expected of a shepherd, the true Christian leader. A Christian writer once said that love is the most powerful yet unknown energy in the world. (Teilhard de Charadin). Love enables people to endure pain and suffering for those they hold dear. Good parents understand sacrifice for children is, because they love them. The true shepherd will be ask to make sacrifices for the flock; this is the reason why a bishop is chosen with care and prayed for with sensitivity , because he and his pastoral leadership can be put to the test by lack of understanding or failure in generosity. Only love with its natural consequence, human compassion, can assure the flock with genuine fidelity in their chosen shepherd, the bishop.

Assured of faithful love, tested in the ministry and the spirit of prayer that has wrapped the person of the bishop, the Holy Father as a Vicar of Christ, and he alone, following the mind and heart of Jesus, chooses (with proper consultation) the person of the bishop, and entrust to him some of the heaviest responsibilities of leadership and shepherding in the Catholic Church.

The tasks and responsibilities of the Bishop.

The Bishop is given the task of building up, unifying and strengthening the Church. He serves the church most, when he teaches the gospel that the Lord taught. The word of God is all he has to bring to people, applying it to life and its many needs and make them accept and live by it.

Beyond teaching, the Bishop has the duty of sanctifying his flock by serving the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist where Jesus is both Word and Food, here, there, now and always. It is the shepherd’s responsibility to make sure that the faithful in his local church takes the universal call to holiness as a reality. A holy bishop makes holy priests; and holy priests make holy people. The serious march to holiness in the church begins with us the bishop sand the priests. Saint Gregory Nazianzen has this to remind us. “First be purified and then purify others; first allow yourself to be instructed by wisdom and then instruct others; first draw close to God and then guide others to him; first be holy yourself and then make others holy.” (Oratio II, no. 71, quoted in Pastores Gregis No. 12).

(Then) the Bishop is to shepherd and guide the flock. Pastoral leadership becomes a reality only by serving, and this is the reason why the bishop is called a servant leader. The bishop leads effectively when he serves. Every bishop remembers best the image of Christ washing the apostles’ feet. “You call me Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may imitate what I have done to you.” (John 13:13-15). These words of encouragement were addressed to the apostles; the bishop may say the same words to his priests and religious in his diocese. The same could be directed to the lay faithful in order for them to participate effectively in the life and ministry of the Church. Getting to the very heart of it all, Christianity is a religion of love in service of the others in order for them, like every disciple, to know, love and serve a loving God.

Inspiring leadership leads to unity.

It will not be long after the bishop is installed that he will discover that there simply is too much to do, so many people to meet and talk with; and there will be more to listen to, plus the parishes to visit and yes, prayers to make and silence and quiet to dwell in. There still are the priests to accompany, inspire and to love. The seminarians wait to be formed and guided even beyond the seminary. The poor, ever at the edge, patiently wait to be noticed, talked with and to be touched by love and compassion. What can one bishop do? How shall he learn?

Unfortunately there is no school for shepherding in the sense that there is a leadership college. The peripatetic school for leaders that Jesus had in order to train his apostles was, in fact, an experience in companionship and discipleship “on the road.” Lectures were actual life’s conversations; examinations were common daily conduct and behavior. Jesus was the Master and the apostles turned out to be the good, self-sacrificing and heroic leaders. Leadership they say is nothing but the ability to inspire others under one motivation moving others to work together towards an accepted vision. And Jesus, the shepherd, was followed because he lived faithfully what He is, and inspiringly showed others how to attain what they wanted to be.

The bishop is the visible principle of unity (and communion) in the church. (LG, 23). The very wordings on the doctrine on Episcopacy state that the bishop is the “visible source and foundation of unity in the local church.” No. The bishop is not a symbol of unity. When it is a question of unity, sharing and communion, the bishop is the principle, the source, the beginning of such a unity in the community of disciples and people of God in the diocese. The priests, the bishop’s special collaborators, in as much as they profit from the Bishop’s love (and care for unity), will also be the foundation of unity in their parishes and vicariates. And learning and profiting from the familial unity of the Presbyterium, the lay faithful and their family (parents and children) also work out the unity and holiness of their respective families. Pushed to its natural and ultimate consequence, the unity given by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Apostles, and their successors, the bishops, continues the long catena amoris that should affect the unity of the community, the church and the society.

The many treasures hidden in unity!

Why (do we) put so much stress on unity in the Church, among Priests, the Bishops and the Laity? In unity there is wholeness (with holiness); in unity there is peace; in unity there is health; in unity God is always there. The last admonitions and prayers of Jesus said it all for us. “May they all be one, just as Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that world may believe it was you who sent me.” (John 17:21). All said, the greatest sin that could be committed in a Presbyterium will be the sin against unity! God wants us to be one in community of people bound in the ties of love and kindness one to another.

The unity that Jesus speaks of brings us to the three dimensions of Christian love and holiness.

Vertical unity and holiness tie us with God living/loving as one in the Father, Son and the Spirit. Horizontal unity and holiness bind us with our brothers and sisters in the Christian community (family, society and the local church). Missionbrings unity and holiness beyond the frontiers of the local church to where the Lord’s Good News is awaited by others still in search for peace, health, holiness and unity.

Truly the Bishop is the visible principle of unity and communion in his diocese. (Directory for Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, 8)

This reflection is presented as a prayer for you, Bishop Rey, the new shepherd of Boac.

What again was the reason for the insistence in asking three times, “Do you love me more than these?” We do not invalidate anything we have earlier reflected on.

But let me just end by presenting to you, Bishop Rey, the words of Paul, the Apostle, and you will understand, why as you pilgrimage to Boac as the shepherd of Christ’s flock, you are also asked, “Do you love Jesus more than these? The reply of Paul is clear “We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance to with his purpose, and (He) turns everything to their good.” (Romans 8:28).

(Sa mga nagmamahal sa Diyos, Siya ay gagawa ng lahat nang kanilang ikabubti). With Mary, the Mother of Jesus, continue loving God and being compassionate to the poor and the weak, and the same God will make sure that everything will be to your good.

Courage, dear brother, and God bless you!