THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER
Acts 13: 13-25; Ps 89: 2-3,21-22,25,27; Jn 13: 16-20
LIVING IN COMMUNION
Service in the Gospel and especially in the life of Jesus is nothing but love in action, the desire for the well-being of the other. In such a genuine loving gesture, status or position does not really matter. Jesus also meant the same when he said to his disciples – No slave is greater than his master; no messenger outranks the one who sent him. These words clearly confirm that Jesus’ call for discipleship is a call for service. He urges his followers to serve each other in the same way he served them by washing their feet.
First and foremost, the passage shows the importance Jesus gives to the individual. To do appears to be the thermometer in our society for determining a person’s worth. People are easily regarded tools in this dynamic; we use each other quite easily. Today, the Gospel exhorts us to turn this dynamic into one of service: the other party will never be merely a tool. It would rather be a matter of living a spirituality of communion, where the other one belongs to me and is a gift to me, whom we have to give place.
Secondly, the Master does not limit himself to an explanation: he imprints his gesture of service into the memory of his disciples, who immediately pass it on to the memory of the Church; a memory that we demand to become a gesture, time and again: in the lives of so many families, of so many people.
Finally, there is great danger for us, when we mistake activity with achievement. Thinking that we are independent and we can do things alone, is another detrimental element that could impede our collaboration in building God’s kingdom. The Apostles gradually became aware that they were not greater than their master and that they were all collaborators and co-workers, each requiring the other. We have to learn in the Eucharist and get the necessary strength, receive the gift of love, die to sin and live for God.
Response: I will sing forever of your mercies, O Lord.
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