Message of HIS EMINENCE GAUDENCIO B.
CARDINAL ROSALES
at the Installation of ARCHBISHOP SOCRATES VILLEGAS
of the ARCHDIOCESE OF LINGAYEN-DAGUPAN
04 November 2009

Your Excellency, Archbishop Soc, it must be said that from great sufferings comes love, and with greater love comes greater responsibilities, and so We greet you, in the name of the Archdiocese of Manila, its Clergy, the religious and the Laity, also in my own, as you begin a new phase in shepherding here in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

Shepherding is the name of leadership and service in the Church, so very unlike leadership in any institution, corporation or company.   Leadership in the Church is called shepherding, like what the Psalmist described in Psalm 23, when the Lord is shepherd, the flock has nothing to fear; where the Lord is shepherd there shall be no want. But more encouraging were the words of Jesus, the Lord, when the role of shepherd was about to be entrusted to Peter, trying to ensure that love, no matter what its cost, must herald the responsibility of leading and serving the flock.

"Simon, son of John do you love me more than these others do?” (John 21:16).  Three times the Lord insisted in hearing the promised commitment of Peter. Wonder of wonders, the Lord wanted to be certain it is not the flock that Peter loves, but the Lord.  He did not ask “do you love the flock”, but “do you love me”!

Where can you find a leadership like this? What kind of an institution is this Church where the commitment is not to the people, but to the love of God?  This is what makes leadership in the Church different from all the rest!  The motivation is not on service, not on laws, but on love of God!

Love! Love is the only thing that makes a servant leader a shepherd in the manner of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  Genuine love alone leads to the limitless self-giving of the shepherd for the flock, even to the offering of one’s life, called sacrificial love. Parents and shepherds know this best.

But why serve with love?  We must serve with love, because love transforms people.  Love is the message of God in Jesus for all of us.  Do we not all learn love from God in the example and witness of Jesus, the Son of God?

Love is the greatest transforming power on earth and in heaven! Is this not the experience of many parents? When parents love their child, the child will necessarily become good. And from goodness, a good child can grow up to become a good teacher, maybe a good soldier, a good policeman.  A good person can even become a good politician, maybe perhaps, a priest.  Do you love me?  The question could be the beginning of goodness.

Archbishop Soc, we greet you, with the hearty “Welcome”, but we  are also much aware of the service and faithful leadership of your predecessor.  He is not here present, but allow me to express also my gratitude and those of many for Archbishop Oscar Cruz.  He tried his best; he did his best to keep his watch over the flock in this Local Church as faithful as he could bear it.

And you, dear Priests, diocesan and religious, those in Consecrated Life and the Laity here in Lingayen-Dagupan, you are asked to show your generosity in responding to the call of God in faithfulness towards the present shape of leadership and service to life now, in the way God has recently shaped you, including the difficulties and your experience of death and suffering because of the recent destructive floods (Ondoy and Pepeng) --- all these contributed to the shape of life and its challenges to the leadership that we celebrate today.

Dear Brother Priests, accept with joy and hope your new shepherd.  Love him.  Obey him! Cooperate with him.  Be encouraged by him.  Encourage him.  Pray, dear Brother Priests, not only for, but with your new Archbishop.

Archbishop Soc, we congratulate you for this added giftedness, in this new shepherding task, not only giftedness in your life, but also for what you are going to bring to this Local Church.

To the People of God in Lingayen-Dagupan, Congratulations for accepting your new Shepherd.

Archbishop Soc and All, God love and bless you.