20150510 THE SECRET OF JOYFUL AND HUMBLE SERVICE

20150510 THE SECRET OF JOYFUL AND HUMBLE SERVICE

Readings at Mass

First reading

Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48 ©

As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘I am only a man after all!’

  Then Peter addressed them: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.’

  While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came down on all the listeners. Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter were all astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit should be poured out on the pagans too, since they could hear them speaking strange languages and proclaiming the greatness of God. Peter himself then said, ‘Could anyone refuse the water of baptism to these people, now they have received the Holy Spirit just as much as we have?’ He then gave orders for them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterwards they begged him to stay on for some days.

Psalm

Psalm 97:1-4 ©

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

or

Alleluia!

Sing a new song to the Lord

  for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

  have brought salvation.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

or

Alleluia!

The Lord has made known his salvation;

  has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

  for the house of Israel.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

or

Alleluia!

All the ends of the earth have seen

  the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

  ring out your joy.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

or

Alleluia!

Second reading

1 John 4:7-10 ©

My dear people,

let us love one another

since love comes from God

and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,

because God is love.

God’s love for us was revealed

when God sent into the world his only Son

so that we could have life through him;

this is the love I mean:

not our love for God,

but God’s love for us when he sent his Son

to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.’

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 15:9-17 ©

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘As the Father has loved me,

so I have loved you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments

you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept my Father’s commandments

and remain in his love.

I have told you this

so that my own joy may be in you

and your joy be complete.

This is my commandment:

love one another, as I have loved you.

A man can have no greater love

than to lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends,

if you do what I command you.

I shall not call you servants any more,

because a servant does not know

his master’s business;

I call you friends,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

You did not choose me:

no, I chose you;

and I commissioned you

to go out and to bear fruit,

fruit that will last;

and then the Father will give you

anything you ask him in my name.

What I command you

is to love one another.’

THE SECRET OF JOYFUL AND HUMBLE SERVICE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Acts 10:25-26.34-35.44-48; Psalm 97:1-4; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17

All of us are called to serve.  After all, the Lord came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.  As Christians, we are called to serve Him and His people.  But it is not enough to serve.  There is service and there are services.  More than just service, we must serve the way Christ served.  We must be joyful servants and messengers of the Good News.  We must serve with humility and selflessness to the extent of giving up our lives and convenience and comfort for others.  Service without joy cannot give life to others.  Without joy and humility in service, all that we do is in vain.  St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.  (1 Cor 13:1-2)

Where, then, do we find this joy of service, especially when we are asked to give day in and day out, without complaint, without reward, without expecting gratitude?  What is the secret to serve in this manner?   This secret is revealed in today’s scripture readings.  It must begin from the love of God.  Love comes from God.  This is the starting point, the point of departure for Christian service.  St John tells us, “My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.”   Indeed, the call to love presupposes that we have been loved by God.  He will never call us to give if He has not first given to us.  We can only give what we have received.  So if we have not received from Him, we are not expected to give since we cannot give what we have not got.

And what has God given to us?  How has He showed His love for us?  St John wrote, “God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.”  The love of God is therefore a concrete and personal love.  God’s love is never spoken of in an abstract and philosophical manner.  It is personalized in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the love of the Father and the Son.

For this reason, Christian service must be distinguished from humanitarian works.  It is not simply an act of charity but a charity that springs not out of human sympathy but the love of God in our hearts.  So the source of charity is different from that of humanitarian service.  Secondly, because it springs from the love of God in our hearts, the focus of Christian service is to see everyone whom we love and serve as loved by God.  This is what the first reading is reminding us. “Peter addressed them: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’, he said, ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.'”  Indeed, God loves everyone and therefore because He loves us all, we are called to love all those whom He loves.  Jesus came to die not for Christians but for all sinners.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that those who believe in Him might have eternal life and not perish.”  (Jn 3:16)

The corollary is that “Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.”  A person who is incapable of true love has never known, or rather, experienced the unconditional love of God.  At most, he seeks to love with the limited and conditional love he has.  This accounts for why many priests, religious and lay people often serve in the Church in such a way that their service cause more harm to those whom they serve.  They are rude, arrogant, condescending and humiliating to those who receive their services.  Indeed, when we find that in our service, we have become edgy, calculative and jaded, then know that the love of God is missing in our life.  It means that we are not loving with the love of God in us but simply loving with our humanity.   This is the reason for much division and hurt among those serving the Church, clergy or otherwise, because it is purely human love seeking to do the work of God.  When love is merely human, it is conditional, calculative and reactive.

So if we want to love and give like Jesus, even unto death, in joy and selflessness, we must share in the secret of Jesus’ love and service as well.  He said, “I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.”  How wonderful to know that He himself learnt from His Father how to love.  He learnt from His Father, the unconditional love for humanity.  Jesus as the Word of God, the Son of the Father, received the love of the Father.  This was the reason for His incarnation and the same reason for His passion, death and resurrection.   For this reason, He could tell His disciples, “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.”  And we must add, for His enemies too!  For this reason, if we do not want to fall into a situation when service is done as a duty without love and without joy, then this love must be constantly renewed.  Jesus reminds us to remain in His love.  “Jesus said to his disciples:  ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.’”

What does it mean to remain in His love?  Jesus elaborated, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”  To remain in His love is to believe in His love for us.  Then we are called to act out this same love we have received in our lives.  Jesus said, “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you.”  We are called to love as He has loved us.

How did He love us?  By dying for us, especially for His enemies.   That is why, Jesus remarked, “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.”  We become friends of Jesus when we are one with Him in love and service.  When we are friends of Jesus, we are not His servants anymore because we share His mind and heart.  Just as Christ shares in the heart of His Father, so too, when we share His life, we too want to love those whom Christ loves.

A servant does out of duty without understanding and motivation.  This is what Jesus said, “You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master’s business.”  Often they do out of fear, obedience and obligation.  Such a servant is useless.  His service has limited capacity to change lives.  This explains why services provided by government agencies to the poor can never surpass that which comes from those who have faith.  Money alone is not sufficient to get the best services.  It is tender love that comes from a heart of compassion that makes the service impeccable.  Good facilities cannot replace service with a heart and a service with joy.

A qualification is needed here.  When we say we are servants of God and of His people, we mean the aspect of service that is humble, available, attentive and total; not one of obligation.  This is the true meaning of service.  We serve simply because the reward is that we have served well.  We do not expect any other reward or recognition or payment.  In rendering the service, we are glad that we have grown in the capacity to love more and more each day like our Lord and that we are used as an instrument of love to others.

Indeed, if we want to be joyful servants of the Lord, then let us embrace the secret of Jesus’ service expressed in His death and resurrection.  He said, “I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete.”   The secret to joy in service is simply this:   to remain in His love and to share in His love for others.  In giving out the love we have received from Him to others, our love is doubled and therefore complete.  When love remains within us, it is not yet complete till we share that love we have received with others.  By so doing, this love in us is augmented when we experience the joy of others who are loved by us.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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