service

“Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” Matthew 20:22

“The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, ‘What do you wish?’ She answered him, ‘Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom’” (Mt 20:21-22).

The context of this request from the mother of the sons of Zebedee, James and John, comes from reading a few verses before the quote above. Start reading at Matthew 20:17 and you will see that Jesus and his twelve apostles are heading toward Jerusalem. Jesus stops to share with them, for the third time, that he will be condemned and crucified.

The request of James and John, through his mother, in the eyes of the world would seem a reasonable request. To them, Jesus was marching toward Jerusalem to claim his throne as king. To sit on his right and left, was an acknowledgment of their willingness to follow him, and serve as support for and witnesses of his kingship. It was also a preemptive strike before any of the other apostles could make that claim. There is a problem with their understanding though.

Jesus’ third statement of his imminent suffering and death appears to be ignored by or it goes over the heads of James and John, again, as well as their mother. The other ten are indignant, not because of the apparent lack of acknowledging Jesus’ upcoming passion, but because they entered into a free for all for position of which of them would be the greatest! It is easy to imagine how chaotic this scene quickly escalated! Saint John Chrysostom offered this insight: “See how imperfect they all are: the two who tried to get ahead of the other ten, and the ten who were jealous of the two” (Chrysostom 1975, 1552)!

This event made an impact for it was recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark has James and John speaking for themselves, not their mother, as in Matthew. Luke does not even record the initial request of James and John and instead comes in at the point of the apostle’s dispute. What all record, including the Gospel of John, is how Jesus made it clear that he came to serve, not to be served. To follow Jesus meant, not that James and John would be given positions of honor and power, the sitting at his right or his left, but that they were to serve as he served, to love as he loved.

The right and left that James and John asked for, Jesus shared was not his to give. That assignment would come directly from the Father. He also said, “You do not know what you are asking” (Matthew 20:22). For if James and John did, they would have thought twice about asking him. The ones who would assume the right and left were the two thieves on either side of him as Jesus was lifted up on the cross.

As disciples of Jesus, we too are called to show our love, not a sentimental love, but a love willing to serve and sacrifice for one another. Most of us are not accustomed or naturally disposed to either. A good way to begin is to be truly present to another, done most effectively when we actively listen. We learn this best in times set aside to meditate and pray with God. As we are able to quiet our minds, slow our heartbeats, and listen to God, we can begin to do so with one another.

Listening happens when we look up, put the phone, paper, or magazine down, turn away from the computer and/or turn off the tv. Then as we take a few breaths, we can open our hearts and minds to listen, and hear. When we learn to listen to God and one another, we will hear where the needs are. When we allow our hearts to be moved with compassion, we will be more willing to truly love by sacrificing and serving one another.

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Painting: “St. James the Greater” by Guido Reni. James learned the art of service and became the first to drink Jesus’ cup. St. James, pray for us!

Chrysostom, St John. Homily. The Liturgy of the Hours: According to the Roman Rite. Vol. 3. NY: Catholic Book Publishing, 1975.

Parallel Gospel passages to review:
Mark 10:35-45; Matthew 20:20-28; Luke 22:24-27 and John 13:12-17

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, July 25, 2025

Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet – an act of humility and a foreshadowing of the cross.

A key focal point of the last supper narrative in the Gospel of John is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was certainly a custom in the ancient Near East, for either people walked barefoot or wore sandals. In either event, people’s feet became quite sore and dirty getting from here to there. Walk accumulated on a person’s feet was also substantial. Washing of the feet was a hospitable way to welcome guests into one’s home. This action though was the most menial of tasks and often performed by slaves or the lowest of servants.

After washing his disciples’ feet and sitting down, Jesus said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:13-14). Jesus is sharing with those who will carry on his message and ministry that they are not to feel so high and mighty in their being called to follow him. The Apostles, those sent by Jesus, are to look at their ministry as seeking how best to serve others, not seeking to be served themselves.

The ultimate service will be displayed in only a few more days. Jesus’ washing on his disciples feet is a foreshadowing of the ultimate act of humility and service that Jesus will show in giving his life for them on the cross. The most degrading, humiliating, and painful of deaths. Jesus will give his life on the cross as will Peter: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” (John 13:8). Peter does not grasp what Jesus is talking about. He followed Jesus on the literal level of the feet washing and much as he did when Jesus told him that he must die, Peter did not understand then either.

Traditionally, this evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, select members of the parish will come to have a foot washed by the priests, following the model set by Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. This would remind all of us, as members of the Church, that we are all an integral part of the Body of Christ. Reenacting the actions of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel brings the vivid reality of Jesus’ invitation. We are at our best when we are willing to serve, support, and lift one another up. This is to be true when all is well and rosy, in addition to when conflict and challenges arise in the messiness of our daily lives.

Pope Francis, in his homily on April 5, 2020 highlighted this same point: “Dear brothers and sisters, what can we do in comparison with God, who served us even to the point of being betrayed and abandoned? We can refuse to betray him for whom we were created, and not abandon what really matters in our lives. We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love.”

We best exemplify Jesus’ washing of the feet when we resist the allure and temptation of pride because our life is not about us. We are not the center of the universe. We are invited to walk away from the table presenting a buffet of the false substitutes for God: pleasure, wealth, fame and power. We are not to curve in upon ourselves either, afraid that our sins are not forgivable. Jesus has not abandoned us and he never tires of loving, forgiving, and serving us. Jesus gave his life for us, and is with us every step of our journey and we experience him with us when we keep him first. As we receive and experience his love and forgiveness, may we be more willing to love and serve one another.

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Painting: “Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet” by Ford Madox Brown

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 17, 2025

Let us serve and give freely as Jesus did most radically.

“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do'” (Lk 17:10).
This closing line from our Gospel reading today can be a hard verse to digest at first glance, especially with our track record of slavery in the U.S. We need to remember and recognize that this was a teaching that Jesus shared in a different time period, in a different culture, and in a place far removed from any clear modern context. The master/slave relationship is also a theme that Luke returns to often.
Another important point to touch upon when reading the Gospels is that when Jesus made the statement that, “we are unprofitable servants; we have done what we are obliged to do”, we are not to read this verse in isolation from the full context of Scripture. Jesus himself modeled service at the last supper when he washed his disciples’ feet (cf. Jn 13:1-17). This was the lowest of menial tasks. St Paul wrote to the Galatians informing them that in the Body of Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male nor female (cf. Galatians 3:28). The ultimate point is that God is God and we are not. We all have a part to play in participating in promoting the kingdom of God by following his lead.
As a disciple of Jesus, we are not to seek adulation and glory. We are to serve God and one another without hesitation. We serve God because he is the director and we are the directed. He is the master and we are the servant. In aligning ourselves in this way, we also experience the intrinsic joy of following his will. As we follow Jesus’ lead and guidance, we grow in our relationship with him, his Father, and experience more of the love of the Holy Spirit. As the apostles followed Jesus, there came a point where he said to them that he no longer called them servants but his friends (see John 15:15). That is to be our hope as well.
No task is too menial or beneath us, nor do we need to be concerned about doing big and grandiose things. We just need to be obedient and act as God leads. Each chance we have, to smile, to hold a door, to respect and appreciate one another, to be patient and present instead of losing our temper, and/or to listen with understanding, and to forgive, are all opportunities to love.
Pope Francis said in a homily a few years back: “Serve and give freely that which you have received freely. May our life of holiness be permeated by this openness of heart, so that the gratuitousness of God – the graces that He wishes to give us without cost – may enter our hearts.” As our hearts expand through small acts of kindness we are moved to serve and to love even more. As St Mother Teresa said, we are to be a pencil in God’s hand. In our willingness to be moved by God to serve, we and those in our realm of influence will be better for the effort.
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Photo credit: The most unprofitable but greatest act of service in human history. While on my canonical retreat back in December.
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Not God, “What will you to do for us?” but instead, “What are we to do for you?”

For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45).

As fully God and fully man, Jesus taught and modeled for his disciples a contrarian view of how to live in our world. He rejected the pursuit of worldly honor, power, pleasure, and wealth during his earthly ministry. Jesus redirected any attention drawn to himself to his Father. He epitomized the exact opposite of the cult of personality by emphasizing that what is most important is developing a relationship with God and following his will by serving the needs of others, even to the point of suffering and dying to open up access to heaven for us.

On our own, we cannot achieve this freedom of service. James and John showed that they did not understand Jesus’ call to service. Instead, they were looking for seats of honor and power. Though they had experienced, studied, and were mentored by Jesus, it was not until experiencing his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and in remaining true and faithful despite their own failures, that they came to a place of transformation through their openness to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They came to understand that Jesus called them to serve and not be served. They then fulfilled what Jesus first saw when he called them to leave their boats and follow him.

This is true for us as well. Jesus sees not just our impulsiveness, pride, and selfishness, our wounds, and our sins, but who God has called us to be from the beginning and still is yet to be actualized. Jesus calls us to a way of life that embraces loving and serving as he loved and served, yet in the unique way and charism that our loving God and Father has planted in us. He has sent the Holy Spirit to guide, empower, and to transform us by his love, so to draw us deeper into the Mystery of God.

May we be willing to be led, as James and John were, away from our attitude of: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”, which is never a good question to ask the Son of God because in so doing we are feeding our E.G.O. We are Edging God Out of the picture and placing ourselves front and center. Instead let us open our heart and mind as Jesus did and embrace the inner disposition of a servant that asks, “God, what do you want me to do for you? How do you want me to serve? Not my will, but your will be done.”

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Photo: A time of quiet and thanksgiving looking at our new but temporary sanctuary in our parish hall. I was blessed to be able to greet and celebrate Masses this weekend together again with my Holy Cross family. We are beginning again and seeking God’s will on how to best move forward.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 20, 2024

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Mt 18:4-5).

Children during the time of Jesus were seen if at all, to have little worth. They were vulnerable, had little if any status in society. They were often nothings, nobodies, and completely dependent on their parents for survival. Jesus invites a child to come to him, identifying himself with the child, as a response to the disciples’ question as to who would be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus taught his disciples, and us today that we need to be completely dependent on God our Father, just as a small child is totally dependent on his or her parents. What leads us to greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is our turning away from the temptation to curve in upon ourselves, resisting the urge to feed our ego, place ourselves first, and as St Thomas Aquinas taught, resisting the cultural lures and substitutes for God: power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.

We are also to reject the image of the Übermensch, the super man, popularized by Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher. Nietzsche wrote that God was dead and promoted the idea that humanity needed to create a world that would create new values based on the power of their will alone. Supermen and women striving for complete autonomy and self-sufficiency. Jesus teaches the exact opposite. We need to place our complete dependency and trust in God and rely on him for everything.

Participating in the reign of God is not one of lordship over another. Instead we are to assume the humility to accompany, walk along with, and serve each other along our journey in this life. Jesus embodied this reality. He as the Son of God entered into our human condition. He did not grasp at his divinity but instead surrendered it to his humanity. While remaining fully divine, he became human when through the power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of Mary, developed through his period of gestation, and was born into our world. As an infant and child, he was completely dependent on Mary, Joseph, and God his Father.

As Jesus continued to grow as a young child, he experienced the fullness of the human condition. He laughed, he cried, he got sick, he was tempted, he felt pain, he experienced heartache and joy. Throughout his life, and especially during his public ministry, he experienced human suffering up close and personal. He understood the suffering of his neighbor and experienced his own human and finite limitations. He loved and wept as we saw in his encounters with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

Jesus invites us to relate to God as our Father often in the Gospels, in the best sense of that intimacy of dependence. St Thérèse of Lisieux got this. “Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms.” Accepting Thérèse’s image is an acknowledgment that we are dependent on God and others, that we are not self-sufficient, that we are not capable of living radically independent lives, nor are we supposed to. God created us to be loved and to love, to be in community, to care for, empower, and support one another.

Our guardian angels, whose memorial we celebrate today, are at the ready awaiting our call. When we have the humility to ask for their help, we will realize that we are not alone. When we experience some supernatural support, from God, his angels and saints, we might just be willing to seek help from and support each other. We can offer a shoulder to lean on, a smile, a hug, a voice that speaks for the voiceless, a soul open to pray with and for others, an ear to hear, and we can embody the courage to serve and stand up for the dignity of others.

St Mother Teresa was willing to come close and pick up that first dying man in the street. She did not ask his religion, was not concerned if he was of a different race or nationality, was not afraid to risk illness or injury by attending to him. She knelt down and was present to him in his time of dire need. We are at our best when we follow Jesus, St. Thérèse and St Mother Teresa, the saints, and our guardian angels, place our dependency and complete trust in God’s hands and accompany each other by doing little things with great love.

Photo: To be loved and love in return is why we are here at this time.

Mass readings for Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Any willingness to share, Jesus will multiply.

As Christians we are called to be disciples of Jesus, to learn his teachings, and follow his ways. We are also called to be apostles in that we are to go out, proclaim, and share that he is who he said he is, and how he has affected our lives. Often when we are reminded of this message though, we may feel inadequate. We may question what it is that we can even possibly offer to help build up the kingdom of God. We may feel we have nothing to share, nothing to give, nothing to say, or that what the Lord asks of us, we do not know how to accomplish.

The disciples express similar feelings today for the latter point. Jesus shows concern for the thousands who had just listened to him for three days and are readying to depart. He is concerned that they are hungry and that some may collapse on their way home. The disciples look about bewildered as to how they could possibly feed the vast crowd. Then Jesus asked, “How many loaves do you have” (Mk 8:5)? They responded that they had seven loaves and two fish. Jesus would go on to feed, not only the whole multitude gathered, but when all ate their fill, seven baskets of bread fragments were left over.

We may not know how to take active steps to live our faith out in our daily lives, we may not even be aware of how to begin. On the other hand, we may have actually been engaged in service, but have started to coast, gotten complacent. If we are not moving ahead in the spiritual life, we are moving behind.

Each day is a new opportunity to begin again, and a good way to do so is to place ourselves in the presence of Jesus. We can sit before a statue, a picture, or an icon of him, we can look out a window, sit on a porch, or go outside. Any place that we can just be still and close our eyes will work. Then take some deep breaths, be silent and return to today’s Gospel account. The need of the people that were with Jesus for three days was hunger. As you reflect, what is your need? What needs might there be in your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, or classmates? What needs in your community?

As you ponder these questions, resist any temptation to self-censor. Allow any need or needs to arise. Once you identify a concern, listen to the same words Jesus asked, “What do you have, what can you offer?”

You may not have an immediate answer. Stay with the question for a period of time, take it with you throughout the day if need be. Resist looking for the big response, a grand plan. Ask yourself what you can offer, no matter how small. Your willingness to share and to help, Jesus can multiply and bring about amazing results.

The disciples only gave seven loaves and two fish, which seemed insignificant to feed the thousands, and yet, Jesus multiplied that meager amount to feed all present with seven baskets left over. Jesus provides, Jesus works through us. The question we need to answer is not are we worthy, wise, or strong enough? The question we need to answer is, “Are we willing?”

Photo: St. Vincent De Paul, our patron saint at the seminary, was willing to help and Jesus touched many through him. Entry to St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, February 10, 2024