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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.
