Category: Faith for Thought

Serve and not be Served.

A week before the Crucifixion of Our Lord, the wife of Zebedee, approached Jesus asking for a favour – to grant her sons to sit, one at His right and the other at His left when He comes in glory (Mathew 20:21). Our Lord knew that everyone had been impressed with the wild popularity and the adulation of the crowds and had assumed that it was only a matter of time before Jesus became the Lord of Jerusalem and drove out the Roman soldiers.

But Jesus knew what would happen in the space of only a few days. “You do not know what you are asking,” He told them. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” The Apostles failed to perceive what leadership meant in the Kingdom of God. Leadership in the world is all about prestige and pride. But in the Body of Christ, it is all about self-sacrifice. It is all about surrender and submission. It is all about setting one’s own interests aside for the sake of others. It is all about laying down one’s own life so that others may live. Jesus explained that unlike when the Gentiles rule with tyranny, here it would be “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all“ (Mark 10.42-44).

We see our Lord opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, strengthening the legs of the lame, opening the minds of the unbelieving, and forgiving the pollution of sinners. Do we not see Him most clearly, as a Servant, when He bent down, at the Last Mystical Supper, to wash the feet of His disciples? And do we not hear Him call us to the same service?

As He has become our Suffering Servant by ascending the Way of the Cross, so also must we become His servants, and the servants of our fellow man.

Serving our fellowman requires that we point man to paradise; it requires that we give up our own demands for prestige, for power and influence, from getting in our way. Let us show kindness to one another. Let us be gracious and merciful. Let us treat each other with the greatest respect and honor. Let us be patient with eccentricities and limitations. Let the world know that our fellowship is bound together with cords of love, forgiveness and grace. We can achieve this only when we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts to attain the level of humility our Lord reflected.

“.. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

–Matthew 20:28

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I Once was Lost..

Have you ever been lost? Then you know that feeling of despair welling up within you driving you to do desperate things to get someone’s attention. Your whole life passes before your eyes in a few minutes and you crave for the simplest of things – the safety of your home, the annoying company of people you took for granted and so on. Being lost in an unfamiliar territory is a nightmare. The dangers that surround you are inexplicable. Continue reading “I Once was Lost..” →

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Glory Allegory.

IT was the morning of another overcast Sunday. Adrian’s dormitory room feebly lit up through its dust-stained windows. Off late, he had grown averse to even waking upon time when it was gloomy outside. ‘Where is the will? I seem to have lost it,’ he grumbled, his eyes barely open. It wasn’t until the previous night that he gave the room some sort of half-hearted dusting, but clearly, there was still more work to be done. If one were to peer in, they would see clutter. It was like walking by an unsavory alley, strewn with chunks of newspapers, soiled clothes and crumpled tote bags.  Twenty minutes later, his alarm rang. Adrian responded, sat up on his bed, looked out at the melancholic sky and then down below at the rest of his university. ‘Thank God it’s the weekend,’ he sighed. It heightened his impatience when he noticed the mess. ‘Really? Am I letting just a little mess get me down?’ And sometimes, he even felt impatient at how impatient he was.He noticed his Bible and Rosary on the side stool, which he prayed the previous night. At times like this, they beckoned. And at the start of this new term, their beckoning was louder than ever. ‘Pay attention!’ He wanted to change his feckless self. He had descended below his mark.
Continue reading “Glory Allegory.” →

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