Service and Charity

Scripture Passages

New American Bible: Revised Edition Chapter 15

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends

New American Bible: Revised Edition Chapter 25

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41 j Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

New American Bible: Revised Edition Chapter 13

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, 3 fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4 he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” 11 For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? 13 You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. 14 If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do

Reflection

We know that the Lord calls us to serve Him. We do not have the same mindset of the Protestants that works cannot save us. We have the mindset that works are the necessary fruit of a living faith.

These words of Christ are worth seriously considering, because the consequences are whether we will be counted among the sheep or the goats.

The love that Christ is speaking of in the verse is Agape, which is only used in referring to “love of God” or God’s love. No one has greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. How I take this to mean is that the highest form of love is to seek the good of another person even to the point of sacrificing something for yourself. To love is to seek the wellbeing of another. Love is not a feeling; it can produce a feeling sometimes, but true love is seeking another’s wellbeing, even if it means sacrifice. As Christians we are called to follow Christ’s example and to serve others. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45).

The bad extreme this could be taken in would be to become workaholics or do what is called “active-ism”, which emphasizes actions as the highest good, even above prayer and the relationship witH God.

But what is the correct way in which we should discern this? We have a lot of voices that encourage us to be selfish. We even have the disposition sometimes of the “spiritual sweet tooth”, which is praying because we want to feel God’s consolation. In prayer we seek to draw close to God, and this. Fulton Sheen uses the image of the Sun in saying that as the rays are closer to the center, they are closer to each other. The closer we are to Christ, the closer we are to our neighbor. The more we love Christ, the more we will love our neighbor. We should not seek to serve ourselves but Christ in others.

John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech has the famous quote “Do not ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”……. Do not ask what Christ can do for you, but what you can do for Christ

Each of us can discern in our daily lives how we can practice this. I’ve had experiences where I’m in the seminary coffee shop during some free time and somebody asks me to be their substitute to set up for dinner. Or someone on campus is sick and the person responsible for bringing them lunch asks me for help, even though I know that that means after I deliver it then most of my friends will have finished lunch.