“Shepherds with the Smell of the Sheep”: Pope Francis' Model for Pastoral Solitude.

Abstract

Of all the metaphors used in the bible to explain the relationship between God and his people Israel, there is none which is more compassionate, loving and trust-worthy than the shepherd-sheep metaphor. It is very rich both for the agrarian and theologian. The shepherd-sheep metaphor bringsto limelight an intimate relationship which poses and imposes itself with an existential alacrity, not just in the lives of the ancient Israel asrecorded in the scriptures but in the lives of all pastors of souls. To concretely relate this idea of intimacy to the shepherds and flock of this age, Pope Francis takes up a new metaphor which reads “shepherds with the smell of the sheep” to speak to the evangelizing community of today. This article therefore, exposes Pope Francis' metaphor in its novelty as it picks up again the traditional and biblical metaphors for the shepherd-sheep relationship to remind the pastoral agents of this age of the need to ever build the relationship of love and care between the shepherds and the sheep and most importantly, an intimate relationship between all and God.