To be a servant is an honor

INDEED! To be a servant is a great honor. It is never a

cause of shame or dishonor. It is a very special privilege, in fact.

And the simple reason is that to be a servant is to be like Christ who

expressly came to serve and not to be served! (cfr Mt 20,28) There can

be no better dignity than that.

            That is why many saints and great men and women through

the centuries took pride in being regarded as servants. And the Pope

as Supreme Pontiff also describes himself as Servant of Servants.

            This is a truth of faith that we have to feel most at home

with. We, all of us, are called to be servants, because if Christ is

the “way, the truth, and the life” for us, then we have to assume his

attitude of serving and avoiding of being served by others. That is

what is proper to us. We therefore need to make some drastic

adjustments in our understanding and attitude toward servanthood.

            Of course, the object of our service is primarily God,

just as Christ served and consummately obeyed the will of his Father

till death. “Not my will but yours be done,” he said. (Lk 22,42) And

he went through all the process of suffering and dying on the cross in

obedience to his Father’s will and for our own salvation.

            And then, secondarily and as an organic consequence of the

primary object, all the others, including those who give trouble to

us. We have to have a universal scope in our eagerness to serve. We

should not discriminate against anyone. We have to serve all as they

need to be served, that is, the way Christ served everyone.

            We have to learn the art of serving which will require of

us complete self-forgetfulness, rejecting all the rights that we have,

something that definitely will require supernatural grace for us to

live by it, and simply assuming all the duties and responsibilities

toward God and everybody else.

            The standard is Christ’s way of serving all of us, which

ultimately took the form of giving his life as a ransom for many. (cfr

Mk 10,45) We have to start widening and loosening our very restrictive

human concept of serving others.

            Do we always think of the others? Do we take the

initiative to find ways to help and serve them in some way? Do we

readily empathize with them in their difficulties and misfortunes? Are

we willing to make sacrifices for them, willing to part some money,

comfort, even our reputation just to help them? Are we convinced that

by doing so, we truly become like Christ? Do we experience a sense of

fulfilment when doing so?

            Everyday we should be able to serve others in many ways

from the moment we wake up till the time we drop to rest at night. It

should start with prayers and some sacrifices. And then all throughout

the day, in the different situations we find ourselves in, we should

nourish this eagerness to serve others.

            Are we aware that by serving others the way Christ

continues to serve us, we are helping in the ongoing work of man’s

salvation? We should never forget this redemptive character of

service. It is what would give meaning to it and motivate us to give

ourselves to God and others completely.

Vocational discernment for the youth

I AM happy to learn that the next Synod of Bishops in Rome

will focus on the topic of Young People, the Faith and Vocational

Discernment. I believe it is a very timely and even urgent concern for

the simple reason that the youth need to discover their lifetime

vocation as early as possible and they actually are in the best

condition to discover their vocation.

            We cannot deny that today’s young people are in a very

dizzying environment of galloping developments and things. And there

should be real effort to help them get a foothold of what is truly

essential in life. And that can only be their relation of love with

God and with everybody else, and the specific role they play in life

and in the world.

            Otherwise, they will be swallowed up mercilessly by the

many worldly forces that have their deceptive charms and allurements

which, if not related to God, can only do a lot of harm not only to

the young but also to all of us, the oldies included.

            It’s imperative that as early as possible these young

people get to realize the real foundation and goal of their life. This

means that first of all they have to look at the things with faith,

more than just with their senses, feelings, or with the trends around.

They have to realize that Christ is interacting with them in actual

time.

            That may pose as a big challenge, since faith is a

spiritual and supernatural affair that can only be received, lived and

used if one tries to be spiritual and supernatural also in his

attitude to life. Otherwise, these things will never enter into their

mind.

            These things are not easily understood, much less,

appreciated and lived by many people, let alone the young ones. The

challenge is precisely in convincing and teaching them in how to be

spiritual and supernatural.

            Of course, we cannot deny that the youth can be capable of

high ideals. But a lot of things can also undermine that capability.

This was thoroughly illustrated in that episode of the rich young man

who asked Christ how he can enter the kingdom of heaven. He had great

desire to be good and holy. But when told of the conditions and the

demands, he went away from Christ sad. (cfr Mt 19,16-30)

            We have to understand that everyone has a vocation. And

this vocation for each one of us has been in the mind of God from all

eternity. It is for each one of us to discover it. And the earlier we

do it, the better, so one can do a lot of good here on earth.

            This was the case of St. John who became one of the 12

apostles at a very young age and who died very old, spending a lot of

time doing a lot of good. There are many advantages when one discovers

his vocation at a very young age.

            One gets to learn the ropes of the spiritual and apostolic

life very early, and can get exposed to more things, and can get

involved in more things. We should not worry so much about the

possible downside of the early vocation, because if one truly

corresponds to God’s grace, all the means to make one faithful to the

end and fruitful in his vocation are given.

            Let’s hope that we can get more young people discovering

their specific vocation!

Connecting the dots

OUR life is, of course, like a puzzle. Mysteries and other

inexplicable events and insoluble problems abound. There are many dots

that need to be connected to see the whole picture. We can try to

connect them ourselves, using our best efforts. But would that assure

us of success?

            If we have faith in God, then we would know that in him we

have the best guarantee of seeing the whole picture, of finding

meaning, reason and purpose for everything that takes place in our

life.

            God is the creator of the universe, the giver of existence

to everything. As such, he is in everything and guides all to him,

their ultimate end. In a manner of speaking, he has the master plan

and knows what to do however the plan is executed by us who are

supposed to be his agents. It’s he who can give us the whole picture,

who gives the full meaning, reason and purpose for all the events in

our life.

            And with our sinfulness, it is he in Christ through the

Holy Spirit who can resolve everything, giving us his mercy, restoring

our dignity. He is the one that connects the dots and enables to see

the whole picture.

            God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is the one that

connects heaven and earth, the spiritual and the material, the

supernatural and the natural, eternity and time. He is the one who can

right all wrongs, can make the impossible possible, can cure all

sicknesses, can resolve all problems, can resurrect the dead.

            We need to learn to refer everything to God. More than

that, we have to live our life as fully as possible with God. This is

not to undermine our autonomy and freedom. This is what would

precisely perfect our freedom and assures us that we are using and

living it properly.

            In this regard, we have to learn to especially refer to

him the mundane things of our life. We usually refer to him the sacred

ones, but the mundane, the technical, etc., are usually regarded as

having nothing to do with God. We have to correct that misconception.

            In fact, it is in our mundane, technical and temporal

affairs that are in great need to be referred to God. All of them play

a role in the providence of God. We have to figure out how they should

be pursued in keeping with God’s will and providence.

            We have to develop some kind of instinct, an urge to refer

everything to God. This can mean many things. One could be that before

we start to do anything or to get involved in anything, we should

already offer it to God, and in our prayers and meditation, try to

discern how these things fit in God’s providence.

            Such instinct and urge should lead us to see God in

everything. If we have faith in him and are always inspired by hope

and charity, we can readily see him wherever we are. And we can

gradually understand his ways and play our part.

            We can also be the ones addressed by Christ when he told

the apostles: “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears

because they hear...Many prophets ad righteous men longed to see what

you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear

it...” (Mt 13,16-17)