Mark 10:45

Tag: service

  • The Center of Attention

    The Center of Attention

    Memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (July 29)

    1 John 4:7-16; Luke 10:38-42

    In this section of the gospel according to Luke, Jesus teaches two important lessons. The first came in the form of the parable we know as “the Good Samaritan,” in which he showed us how God wants us to serve other people. Today we hear the second, where Jesus tells us how God wants us to serve Him.

    The setting of course is not a parable, but the home of Martha and Mary. Put yourself in their place: Jesus is coming to your home. How do you prepare for that? I’m sure there are many things you would do, all with the best intention: To make your house the warmest and most welcoming place you can. And as for yourself, what will you do when he is your guest? Without doubt, you intend to serve him as well as possible.

    How the two sisters prepared we cannot know, but we do know they served in very different ways. As for Mary, she chose to sit beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak (Luke 10:39). Of all the disciples, only Mary is consistently found at the feet of Jesus: listening to him, weeping for him (John 11:32), and anointing him (John 12:3). This is why for centuries the Church has pointed to Mary of Bethany as a model of the contemplative life. It certainly nourished her faith; to this day, she is known as an evangelizer. John tells us that many people came to Mary after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:45).

    Martha took a more active role, but her faith was certainly no less. To the contrary; John puts on her lips alone the greatest affirmation of faith found in his gospel: I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world (John 11:27). Nevertheless, here in Luke, Martha is distracted, burdened with much serving (Luke 10:40). Should she have chosen not to serve? That’s not what our Lord implied in the parable of the Good Samaritan; there, he commended people who actively serve their neighbor for their faithfulness. Then why did Jesus rebuke her, who was serving him? Not for her actions, but for her state of mind; Martha allowed her focus to shift away from him and onto her sister.

    It happens that, as people engage in some activity, they grow accustomed to it, and their minds begin to wander. Think about your prayer life; particularly, the prayers you say most often. Have you ever suddenly realized that your mind is a million miles away from the words your mouth is saying, even at Mass? As I said, it’s only natural, but that doesn’t mean unavoidable; it’s also natural to be vigilant. You know very well that when something is of vital importance to you, you’ll shake off any distraction to stay focused. What made Mary so noteworthy wasn’t where she sat herself, but where she put her mind: Fully on Christ, and everything he had to say. Had her thoughts been drifting somewhere else, she too would have been gently brought back to reality by Christ.

    It also happens sometimes that we serve others with mixed motives. Ask yourself if, while working in a parish ministry, you ever found yourself a little too concerned about whether people noticed or praised you, or got a little jealous when someone else was recognized and you weren’t. Again, it’s natural to want to be the center of attention now and then, to be recognized by others for what we’ve done. But, again, the issue is focus; the center of attention is God, not ourselves, and the standard of comparison is not other people, it is Jesus Christ. Who was ever more servant than he, yet when did he ever seek the limelight or care what anyone else thought? The gospels are clear that he had one goal: Doing his Father’s will. The same for Martha, the same for us; regardless what other people think or do, our goal first, last, and always, is to see and serve Christ, and thus show our love for God and our determination to do his will.

    So, today, let us take these lessons to heart. In a few moments, the Lord will be our guest in Holy Communion. The whole point of our time here is to prepare ourselves for that, to make our souls His most welcome home. We can only do that to the degree that we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, so to do what John urged us in the first reading when he said: Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God (1 John 4:15).

    Sts. Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, pray for us.

  • Minute Meditation: St. Martin de Porres

    Minute Meditation: St. Martin de Porres

    Philippians 2:5-11

    Among the most important things we ever say, our last words probably rank pretty high. That is certainly the time to say the one thing that is closest to our heart; the thing we want others to hear and perhaps even remember us by.

    The last words of the man we remember today, St. Martin de Porres, are a perfect case in point. Brief yet the height of eloquence, they capture him as no other words could. As he lay near death, Martin continued to do what he so often did in life – he prayed. As he and his Dominican community recited the Creed, St. Martin breathed his last at the words of the Incarnation: “et homo factus est” (“And became man”).

    It is fortuitous that the first reading today gives us those beautiful words of Philippians that sing of our Lord, Jesus Christ: though he was in the form of God, (he) did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… (Philippians 2:6-7). Since those words were first written, humanity has struggled to understand this depth of humility; how the all-powerful, indivisible, unseen God could so humble himself as to take up the fragile flesh of his own creation and, through the perfect oblation of his passion, death, and resurrection lift, redeem and exalt it to the glory of God the Father.

    Imagine the mercy; imagine the kind of love that would do this.

    This was the love that St. Martin de Porres poured himself out to imitate: To be himself that same model of charity; to plumb the depths of humility that would bring him closer and closer to Christ. Driven by this, Martin spent his life doing the things that Christ did – praying constantly, working incessantly, serving the servants, offering himself whenever and wherever he could. All this made his last words not only an affirmation of the Incarnation but the most eloquent and fitting summary of his life: Humility born of love, given completely to service, that others may live.

    St. Martin de Porres, pray for us.

  • Holy Thursday: The Primacy of Service

    John 13:1-15

    Today we read from John’s account of the last evening that Jesus spent with his disciples before his Passion and death. The other evangelists take this opportunity to provide us with the Institution Narrative, or the words spoken by Christ that to this day are repeated by the priest during the Consecration at holy Mass.

    John does not do this; rather, he uses the occasion of the Last Supper to depict Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and commanding them to do likewise. We don’t know why, but it’s possible that by the time the evangelist composed this gospel account the Breaking of the Bread had become an occasion for people to segregate into groups and eat and drink their fill, rather than to unite and commemorate the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord as one body.

    passion-3807312_640By showing Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, the evangelist re-emphasizes the primacy of service. Those who would be greatest must become the least. This is the humility and love behind the gift of his life poured out for our sake, by which he becomes one with us and we become one with each other.

    As we approach the Eucharist this evening let us take his words and his actions to heart, for together they show that love leads naturally to service. Christ has shown us the greatest love through the gift of his Body and Blood broken and poured out for our sake and at the same time that this is the love that allows us to see others not as things to be used but as people to be served.