Good Shepherding and Moms
Today’s scripture reading and homily about Jesus as The Good Shepherd brought to my mind various images of what a “good shepherd” meant during various times of my life:
1. My first school – St. Domitilla’s School, now St. Bridget’s School, where I studied from Kindergarten through Grade 6. The school was a short 5-minute leisurely walk from our home. St. Bridget’s was inside The Good Shepherd convent which then spanned the whole block from Batino Street to Katipunan Avenue. During those days, The Good Shepherd convent was home to several German sisters who run St. Bridget’s with the orientation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd founded by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier who believed that “one person is of more value than a world” – the same value that Jesus the Good Shepherd attaches to His sheep. The Good Shepherd convent compound was then some sort of a natural sanctuary with huge trees, big patches of zinnia and other flowering plants, and home to butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and chirping birds. It was also place where one could savor the aroma of freshly-baked chocolate cookies made by the nuns to support their evangelical and socio-civic activities. This natural aura is now gone. One can barely see the diminutive convent which has given way to development - the Light Railway Transit (LRT) plying Santolan to Recto.
2. Strawberry and ube jam, crinkles and sweets made by the sisters of The Good Shepherd in Baguio (near Mines View Park) which we never fail to visit when we go up to Baguio. Buying the sisters’ produce guarantees us the best sweets to bring home for “pasalubong” and gives us a nice feeling that buying the jams at a premium over market prices is worth it since we help send some Cordillera youth to school through our purchase.
3. A former officemate, an engineer, who has given himself the role of being a good shepherd to his flock in his church community. He has always chosen to retain his corporate rank (than be promoted) while all his peers and subordinates have already gone up the corporate hierarchy and left him behind. He has traded off job promotions for low profile work to be able to prioritize caring for and tending of his so-called “sheep” or followers in his religious group.
4. A school teacher committed in molding the minds of his/her students. I vividly remember an instance when my kids’ toddler-school teacher really looked liked a shepherd trying to keep all her naughty and curious students from running away, wandering and getting lost at the Parks and Wildlife Park during a field trip in class.
Today, the parable of The Good Shepherd brought me an added realization that moms (in a sense) are also “good shepherds”: lovingly caring for their children every day (as shepherd’s care for their sheep), watching and guiding them so they will not go astray and unconditionally accepting them back when they get lost and return to the family’s fold.