You Are My Servant
“Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
“You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.” (Is 49:3) These are the words that we hear in the first reading at Mass today. You are my servant.
For many, that might not want to be the words they long to hear. After all, being a servant goes against what our human nature desires. We do not long to serve, we long to rule. Being a servant is too lowly — too demeaning — for many to consider.
But God calls us to be His servants. And He does so by embodying what it means to serve. He sent His Son to us as a suffering servant. Jesus endured great trials all out of love for us. He calls us to do the same in our own lives.
Serving might not appear to be ideal but serving is where it’s at. When we serve, we humble ourselves and bring the Lord to others in ways we never thought imaginable. Doing so, we bring the Lord into sharper focus for ourselves as well. In short, serving helps not only others but us.
Our souls leap for joy at the possibility of serving others. Why? Our souls know something that we often fail to see: the Lord dwells in all of His people. Therefore, when we take the opportunity to serve another, we serve the Lord. I ask you, what could be better or more fulfilling than that?
We are back into Ordinary Time in the liturgical life of the Church. We finished the Christmas season last Sunday with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. At that time, we reminded ourselves that we were all commissioned by the Lord to be His faithful servants by virtue of our own baptisms.
Now, we journey on to the next season in the Church: Lent. During Lent, we will remember the Lord’s struggle as He taught His people, healed His people, loved His people, and was ultimately rejected and killed by so many of His people. Let us strive to live as the Lord’s people so that we can have the strength and grace to act as witnesses to Christ’s love in a word so steeped in sin.
The world is going to try and tell you that it has the way to joy and riches, power and fame. The world would be and is extremely wrong. The joy, riches, power, and fame that the world has to offer are transitory. They will tarnish and wither because they are not rooted. But you? Be rooted not in the world but in the Lord and let your soul leap for you.
FAITH ACTION: Pray that all people may come to know the joy that comes from serving the Lord as He calls us to do.