It’s not easy to be a leader. People expect much from those who are there to guide, shepherd, teach, lead. Truth to be said, not all the times the leaders are on the top of their game. On the other hand, position of leadership brings prestige, privileges and temptations that are difficult to resist. For some people, position becomes goal in itself, with no strings attached. They forget that to be a leader means to take care of those whom they are supposed to lead.

This is what the prophet Jeremiah comes to denounce. He speaks openly to the so called “shepherds” who didn’t care for the flock entrusted to them. But maybe this is not the main point. The most important thing is that God continues taking care of his people even when the shepherds don’t. God never forgets his people, that’s why he will call other shepherds who, hopefully, will be more responsible, more according to the heart of God. These words are fully fulfilled in the person of Jesus who was the kind of shepherd God wants for his people. For Jesus, leadership was not a position, not a privilege, but the way of living, the way of looking at the people with love and compassion. Because the essence of leaderships doesn’t lie in skills, abilities, charismatic attraction, but in loving.

This Word of God touches deeply the hearts of us who know Bl. Francisco Palau OCD. In his intimate writing “My Relationships with the Church”, he often considers thinks about those pastors of the Church who show themselves unworthy of taking care of God’s flock. He represents the Church in a figure of Sara, a young woman whose seven husbands died the very first night of their marriage because they married her not for love but for other benefits. In Palau’s refelction, only those who truly love the Church and are ready to give their life for her are worthy of this matrimony, this union, this close relationship with the Church. So here comes the question: are we the loving leaders according to God’s heart? May these Sunday readings remind us that love is the only quality we need to become leaders in the Church, but without love, we will be only temporary disaster. Because God won’t allow bad shepherds to make more damage among his people. The Church is God’s flock, and God will never forsake it.