“We are called to serve and not to be served”

Our life as religious should be centered on Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. It is in these words that Jesus declares his purpose and mission. We too have to anchor our life of service to others in this declaration of Jesus.

The greatest service that all of us can afford to give to others is our personal witnessing to the love of Jesus.

Furthermore, if we want to serve others like Jesus, it is a must that we get out of our comfort zone. Thus, Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not deem equality with God something to be grasped.  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’ ( Phil 2:7). Jesus’ sacrificing love is the highest form of service that we have to emulate and take as a model of service.

Growing in the spirit of Christian service demands that we have to continually nurture our deep relationship with Jesus. For as we grow in the love of the Lord, He enables us to love Him more in the persons that we serve  and encounter every day, the poor sick, the marginalized, the aged, the handicapped, etc.

Truly the greatest service that all of us can afford to give to others is our personal witnessing to the love of Jesus through our joyful journeying with the people He entrusted to us and those who are living with us, that is, our confreres, showing them our deep faith in God all the time.

In serving others, it is not only their faith that we enrich and strengthen but also ours. As we strengthen the hope of the hopeless whoever they are, we are strengthened in that hope. And as we are inspired to continually share our life’s story in Jesus, we become Jesus’ presence to those who are having difficulty to grasp a God who is always present in our midst.

Let us therefore, continue serving one another wherever we are in a spirit of true love and humility. It is in this way that we can be able to live out the spirit of what Jesus said, “I came not to be served but to serve for the ransom of many.” (Mt. 20:28)