Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians
PHIL 2:5-11

Brothers and sisters:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and, found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

From the Gospel according to Luke
LK 14:15-24

One of those at table with Jesus said to him,
“Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.”
He replied to him,
“A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many.
When the time for the dinner came,
he dispatched his servant to say to those invited,
‘Come, everything is now ready.’
But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.
The first said to him,
‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen
and am on my way to evaluate them;
I ask you, consider me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have just married a woman,
and therefore I cannot come.’
The servant went and reported this to his master.
Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant,
‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out
and still there is room.’
The master then ordered the servant,
‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows
and make people come in that my home may be filled.
For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

Jesus, served unto death; it seemed to be a defeat, but it was a way of serving. And this underlines the way of serving that we must also take up in our own lives. To serve is to give of oneself, to give oneself to others. To serve is not about demanding some benefit for ourselves, other than serving. Serving is glory, and the glory of Christ is to serve up to the point of annihilating oneself, until death, death on the Cross (see Phil 2:8). Jesus is the servant of Israel. The people of God are servants, and when the people of God distance themselves from this attitude of service they become an apostate people. They distance themselves from the vocation that God gave them. And when we distance ourselves from this vocation of service, we distance ourselves from God’s love. And we build our lives on the basis of other loves, very often idolatrous. (…) Let us think today of Jesus the servant, faithful in service. His vocation is to serve, until death on the Cross (see Phil 2:5-11). Let us think about each one of us, part of the people of God: we are servants, our vocation is to serve, not to take advantage of our place in the Church. To serve. Always in service. Let us ask for the grace to persevere in service. At times we slip and fall, but when this happens, let us ask for the grace to weep like Peter. (Santa Marta, 7 April 2020)