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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Easter, 04 May 2023
Acts 13:13-25   ><}}}*> + ><}}}*> + ><}}}*>   John13:16-20

O Lord Jesus Christ,
how lovely that you taught
us how to lovingly serve you in
others by washing the feet 
of your disciples to show 
that service is in the context 
of a table gathering,
of a meal of family
and friends.

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master not any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”

John 13:16-17

Service which is
ministerium or ministry
in Latin and diakonia in
Greek both connote 
"table service",
serving in one's little
way at home (oikos),
an expression of your "dwelling" 
Lord Jesus in the Father
and of your "dwelling" in us,
of our "dwelling" in God in you
with others; 
how lovely, indeed, 
that serving is directly
related with the table found
in home or dwelling so that,
therefore, to serve means to be
at home, to dwell in God,
to dwell with others in Christ;
furthermore, service is 
to be rooted
in our home, 
in our family
who is God himself
ultimately as St. Paul
explained today in the
first reading!

Help us realize this,
Lord Jesus, that to serve
is not to do something so big
for others, something so
spectacular for everyone to see;
to serve is simply to be present
with our loved ones, with others
in facing life's so many challenges;
to serve, O Lord, is to continually
dwell in you, 
to find and recognize you
in each other as your
indwelling, your home
who must be respected
and honored as a person,
a brother and a sister
in you; being present
with another is service
in itself.

Of what use are all
our efforts in serving
those far if we cannot 
even look at those near us 
in their eyes 
to recognize them
as your indwelling too?

Let us be at home in you
and with you, Jesus, 
so we may be at home too
with others.
Amen.