Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance. (Mi 7:14a)
We need shepherds.
Without them, we would be a flock who easily goes astray.
Why?
Because, in our sinful condition, we tend to follow our own desires, informed by this world, rather than the will of God.
Shepherds — popes, bishops, priests, deacons, brothers, sisters — show us, by their example, what it means to embrace God’s will.
Not that it is easy for them, either.
They, after all, are the same as anyone else: humans in a sinful condition.
However, because of their studies or their desire or their years of practice, they have often more attuned themselves to God’s will and practiced abandoning themselves to God’s will more than others in the world.
They show us, not only by their words but by their deeds, that following the Lord can bring great joy.
May God always give us the shepherds that we need.
FAITH ACTION: As we are now without a Pope, pray this day for God to bless the former Pope, Benedict XVI, as well as to be with the College of Cardinals whose task it will be to meet in special conclave to elect a new Pope.