Successful Service (Fr Salib Suryal, 1948)

Successful Service

I know My sheep, and am known by My own (Jn 10:14)

A pastor^[1]āḥad al-ru‘āa, lit. one of the shepherds. The word rā‘ī is translated throughout as “pastor.” The word literally means shepherd, but in a Christian context, it can refer either to a priest or to any church servant in a pastoral role. once summed up his experiences in the service with the following saying: “Searching for sinners is much more difficult than saving them.” Indeed, it was the concern of the Good Shepherd “to seek and save what was lost,” and so He started His service by seeking the sinners, searching them out and finding them, because the sinner has no existence in the world of spiritual realities, even though he has bodily existence. After he has been found, the task of saving him begins.

The service that has been delivered to the servants of God is as dangerous as it is important. The shepherd knows the number of sheep in his care and calls them by their names. They follow him with love, because they know no one else. He is the one who searches for green pastures for their sake. When it is evening time, he guides them to the fold and spends the night guarding them while they sleep in peace.

The service of a priest of God begins outside the church, and the social services of the church are nothing else but the conclusion that results. It begins with the search for troubled souls who are far from God, so that he can give them comfort and peace, and draw them to the fold with gentleness and love, with tears and prayers, because he is an apostle of the Friend of Tax Collectors and the Beloved of Sinners.

Good pastoral care begins at the moment when the pastor realises the value of every soul, and how precious these souls are in God’s estimation.^[2]fī mawāzīn Allah, lit. in God’s scales/balances. A faithful pastor is never at peace until all his sheep have been brought into the fold.

Our Mother Church is in dire need of an understanding of the spirit of good pastoral care, of [how to conduct] a thorough and comprehensive search,^[3]iftiqād. While this verb means to search or seek, it is worth noting that it can also mean “to visit.” In the context of the Sunday School movement, even today, iftiqād usually refers to the practice of “visitations,” where servants go out to the homes of those they serve. for souls, of [how to] prepare an accurate accounting of every church’s congregation. Serving deacons^[4]al-shamāmisa al-khuddām can be relied upon to help the priests in this regard.

When a priest knows how to seek out^[5]yaftaqid, see note 3. souls and serve them, he and his congregation attain heaven.^[6]qadd rabaḥa (rabbaḥa?) wa sha‘b-hu al-samā’

Fr Salib Suryal

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