Serve or Serve its Your Choice

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"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave."

Americans are not the type of people that want to be servants.  Oh, we will take a job that at first blush seems beneath us but we will only tolerate it for only the minimum amount of time required to move up the ladder to a position where we can call the shots.  We prefer to be the ones that tell someone else where to move that heavy piece of furniture instead of being the one that moves it.  We go through life not seeing those that have taken the jobs we consider menial. The Latino gardener mowing the grass, the janitor with mop and bucket, the hotel maid, the busboy and waitress, all of these people are invisible people.  They are there, we acknowledge that but then we do not see them anymore, they fade into the background.  Please understand that I am not looking down on these people. This is just how it is. 

Well, here is a news flash for you.  No matter who you are in the world, no matter if you are a CEO of a giant corporation, world famous surgeon, President of the United States, or even the Pope of Rome, you are the servant of someone.  That someone might be your stockholders, your patients, the citizens that elected you or the clerics and people of your church, somewhere you owe service to another person or group of people.  We all have an obligation to fulfill to others. We are all servants and of course, we are all servants of God.  I  do mean all of us are servants of God.  We may be good servants, mediocre servants or bad servants, but servants we are.  

What exactly does God expect of His servants? Let's start with His chief employee here on earth, Pope Francis.  The Pope is the prime minister of the Kingdom of God on earth. The prime minister acts in place of the king while the king is absent.  It is expected that the prime minister will know the will of the king and handle the king's affairs accordingly.  How do we know what that word accordingly means in this case?  It is simple.  The Pope functions as the servant of the servants of God. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and that is what Francis I is supposed to do.  Here he is, a man that seems to hold unlimited power in his hands, and what is he to do with that power? The Kings says to wash the feet of his fellow servants. 

If we were to realize that our vocation is to be just like that of the Pope, that of foot washing servants to one another, we would be falling all over each other trying to meet the other's needs with charity and love.  Next time you see a person mowing the lawn, packing grocery bags, waiting tables, or mopping floors, remember this, they are not invisible people, they are our fellow servants.  Treat them with the kindness and respect you would give to visiting royalty or better yet, treat them as if they were Jesus and He was performing this service for you.  It will change your life and how you look at people.  God bless. 

Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother, Grandfather, who do you know that might be in purgatory?  The Holy Souls in Purgatory cannot pray themselves out of there and into heaven, they need us.  An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be takes only a few moments of our time but it means so much to those in purgatory.  Remember to pray for the holy souls...do it now!