SERVICE: KEY TO HAPPINESS AND HOLINESS

SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

At the heart of the Christian calling is the call to imitate Jesus Christ, and this means a call to service. To serve is difficult. It is often taken for granted by others or goes entirely unnoticed. Yet, it is, however obscure and apparently ordinary, the shortest path to happiness and holiness.

Christ was above all things the priest, the one who offered the sacrifice of himself for the world's redemption. Imitation of him is participation in his priestly act of sacrifice, the essential ingredient in all forms of service.

At first, Christ seemed a worthless contribution, a rejected stone in the building of mankind. In fact, he is clearly the most important stone of all, the cornerstone of history and human meaning. So also our acts of service may be judged to be contributions of little or no worth, but they are all given great dignity by the underlying intention that originates and energizes them ‑‑ the simple, humble willingness to serve. Through service, the most ordinary person performing the most ordinary task is transformed into the likeness of God's Son, Jesus Christ, who served thirty years as a carpenter's son before beginning his public ministry of three years. And we should not forget that even then, that glorious ministry of prophetic word, of healings and cleansings and raising from the dead was rejected. Indeed, Isaiah prophetically described the Savior to come as a suffering servant.

This is the way it is with us. In our service, we are summoned to work at this earth's tasks. We all will find in our individual lives, in virtue of our God given gifts and calling, a task which is truly our own. The writer, the housewife, the manager, the trade unionist, the social activist, the field worker, the engineer, the executive, blue collar worker, waitress, entertainer, artist, politician, social worker, health care professional, craftsman, truck driver, receptionist, secretary, teacher, and on and on and on ‑‑ in a word, all who are deeply involved in their earthly tasks, who are dedicated to their work, however highly praised or overlooked at may be, however visible or unnoticed, bring about something real which they offer to humanity and to God. In this sense we may speak of the priestliness of every calling.

In view of this, it is important that we have a pure intention and complete dedication in our work.

Undoubtedly, human goodness manifested in humble lives of service is, by its very nature, less noticeable than evil. It seems it's always wrongdoing, corruption, and human defilement that receive the headlines. The brightness of pure intentions and self sacrifice is mostly hidden from the eyes of the world, and fully observable to God alone, who sees in secret and rewards in secret. Who can tell all that is accomplished by godly people of whom one never hears ‑‑ by the common man or woman, in whatever level of society he or she may be, by all the hidden lives praised by Jesus in the eight beatitudes. They are the truly blessed ones, the happy ones. 

And they are hard to notice. They do not appear in the newspapers. But the Church is the Church of the small and poor, and hence of saints. It is not because the dome of St. Peter's is so vast that the Church is the Church of Christ, but because so many common men and women have been declared blessed or saints under that dome. They are a sign and reminder of countless others who remain nameless.

And what a blessing and grace it is to be called by God to recognize Christ in the least of our brothers and sisters, and to be called to serve them in some way, however obscure, so that they may know something of God's goodness and love for them through the service rendered them by us.

The holiness found in the Church is not a purely human achievement. The spiritual sacrifice of service which the members of the Church offer is perfectly one with Christ's own self-offering, for Christ joins himself to each and every member of the Church in all their daily activities.

We were not promised that it would be easy to follow Jesus, but we were promised that our suffering and efforts would produce life, just as the sufferings of Christ have. And this is cause for rejoicing. Here is what St. Paul said in Col 1:24: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church".

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap