These are reflexions from the “5 Marks of Love” a Lenten series of the Brothers of St John the Evangelist (The Cowley Fathers) in North America, which we continue to reflect on during this Lent. This week we we think about TEND...the call to respond to human need by loving service
Christ is already everywhere present in the world. He is with those who
suffer in body, mind, or spirit. He is present in communities of poverty
and despair. He is with those who live on the margins. He is with the
lonely, the neglected and the sick. We are not called to bring Christ to
people in need; he is already there. We are called to join him there –
physically, if we are able, and by our prayers and gifts. We are invited
to be in relationship with him where he is already present.
In order to love Christ, we must love our neighbors. In order to serve
Christ, we must serve our neighbors. In order to be transformed by
Christ’s love for all living beings, we must open our hearts and spread
our arms wide. We must make room in our hearts for all those whom
God holds in God’s heart, even our enemies and those who wish us
harm. God loves each and every one – no exceptions!
Our hearts will become as wide as God’s heart only if we are willing to
allow ourselves to be vulnerable; only if we come to listen and learn from
those we would serve; only if we are willing to embrace and share with
them our own hurts, struggles, joys and dreams; only if we are willing to
be humbled and changed in the process. There is no place for pride or
haughtiness in the service of Christ. There is no place for condescension,
sympathy or pity. We come as fellow pilgrims on the way, willing to set
aside our own needs and our own preferred ways of helping, in order
to listen – and to listen deeply – to those who seek our help.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just send in a donation to a nonprofit organization?
Or serve a meal once a month at the local soup kitchen? Donating time
and money to worthy causes is laudable, but it can sometimes distract us from the deeper questions we ought to be asking. It can allow us to stay
comfortably within the status quo. It can keep us from asking ourselves
what sort of service might really stretch us, make us uncomfortable,
challenge our assumptions about ourselves or others, or expose our
biases?
As we consider the third Mark of Love – responding to human need
by loving service – we are challenged to explore what this Mark truly means
We are summoned out of our comfort zones, and invited to
open ourselves to the transforming power of Christ, the servant of all.
——
Sitting on the bus
I was told to get off at Jabbok
But I got off at Bethel
(some call it Luz)
Nevertheless,
I had a perfect morning there
looking at the angels, up and down
wondering what the interest was;
were they brown, dark or fair?
I tried to see the point
yet Jacob,just like me,
avoiding this and that
made it holy, stately, grand;
hip not yet out of joint
I found another bus
and went along to Jabbok.
Did I see God’s face there?
…but then again back in Luz
