My Lambs, My Shepherds

I became a shepherd to lambs who would someday be my shepherds.
Amazing and really I was blessed to have them last weekend during the LSS in OMI. These aspirings priests were really full of energy and were almost boisterous. Sometimes, I felt that their behavior was already unbecoming but I was always reminded of their age. Honestly, these yound people were just being themselves and acting like young adults only.

I was fortunate to have met three young gentlemen Sol (Solomon),Don-Don(Gerson) and Len(Cyrill) and they have touched my life as well. They thanked me for being their Shepherd which I have no control of in the first place and I thanked them too. My last prayer for the group was that God would grant us the energy and strength to be men of God. Yup, Men of God. God must have been pleased.

Man of God. So easy to say but so hard to do.

I thanked the Lord that my three lambs opened to me without reservation. There were times when I had the urged to probe unneccessarily and I had to restrain and instead I listened though it wasn't always easy to do so because of some distractions or if the sharing was too long. Oh well, God rewarded me why He didn't allow me to say anything during those moments because at the end these young men were able to realize by themselves the issues they needed to confront and that experience would have been empowering to them. It made them more confident realizing that they could handle their own problems when at first all three of them would only sigh in resignation and say " Bahala na si Lord".

I was happy to know that without telling them they made their own action plans and all I said was that they always include God in their plans and always ask for God's blessings.

As for me, I left tired but satisfied. It was my first shepherding after all. I was able also to share my childhood experiences and how God handled it while I was young. The four of us were able to relate to one another because of our own struggles while growing up. Not a perfect family but God was there. Just like the story of Joseph. Maltreated and almost killed by his own blood but at the end he became a ruler without any grudge against his siblings.

Soon these young men are ready to take their vows as priests. They will be then Shepherds to others including me.