Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Entrance Antiphon Ps 70 (69): 2, 6 O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me! You are my rescuer, my help; O Lord, do not delay.

Collect Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, you may restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Nahum 2: 1-3. 3: 1-3.6-7; Psalm: Deuteronomy 32; Matthew 16:24-28

Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:24-28)

Service There are so many things which man has in common with the animal that he is generally classed as an animal, while possessing radically distinguishing features. He is an animal – yes, but he is a rational one and he can choose between options. He is not subject to instincts. For this reason he is very different from a mere animal, so much so that the Book of Genesis describes man as having been made in the image (not of animals but) of God. He is, then, more like God than an animal. An animal, led by its instincts, cannot be said truly to do a work in life. It is subject to the round and promptings of its instinctive tendencies, which in turn react to stimuli. The great “intelligence” and “achievements” of, say, a prize-winning sheep-dog or of a cunning leopard are the product of training, conditioning and instinct. Man, though, can do a work that is truly his. As a result of his judgments of objective reality, his sense of what is morally right and his choices, man is capable of works that are truly his. All of this is beyond the animal. Let that introduce the immense significance of each person’s work – meaning by this the action he chooses to take and that to which he chooses to dedicate his action. Choice is an essential element in human work. Some choice of action is impossible to avoid for man, and he is responsible for his choices. His choice may mean choosing to do little or even nothing – well, this is his choice, and he is responsible for it. The more deliberate and considered his choice, the more truly is the consequent action his work, for good or ill. Another element of worthwhile human work, springing from his power to judge and to choose, is that his work constitute a service. Man naturally aspires to work, and his work fulfills to the extent that it is a service. But this service must be a true one, one that accords with man’s true flourishing. If a person or a group sets out on a work which it chooses to regard as a service (and which others may regard as such too), but which degrades the human being, this “work” is an abomination. It would have been better, we might say, had it never been born. Let us think of the busy pornography industry. All of this brings us to the all-important matter of what we should choose to do in life, because, plainly, the value of what we choose to do will shape and affect our own and the world’s flourishing.

If only we can latch on to this key idea, that by nature we are called to work in life, and that our work constitute a true service! This does not require a divine revelation – it is a natural realization which man’s moral judgment affirms. For this reason the secular world will highly approve the work for the poor conducted constantly by a Mother Teresa, or ceaselessly appealed for by a Pope Francis. Nobel prizes are awarded for achievements in various fields of service – be they medical, scientific, humanitarian. A Victoria Cross is granted to someone who served heroically on the battle field. There is no special merit in being able to see that service is the best work of man, and that it serve the true good of others. It is a natural perception (though requiring education), so much so that we might be tempted to say it is implanted in man by his Creator. The special challenge is seeing how one may serve best, and finding the wherewithal to do this. It is in serving well that human fulfilment will be found. Now, it is one of the blessings of divine revelation that we learn precisely this. For the Son of God became man not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for each and all. Our truest happiness lies in following him closely as his disciples and friends, sharing by faith and baptism in his divine life through the gift of his Spirit. At the Last Supper he set aside his outer garment and knelt before his disciples, one by one washing their feet as would a servant. He said to Peter, that unless he allowed him to do this he could have no part with him. Then he said, as I have done so do you to one another. This service is rendered to God and to others – it is a service inspired and sustained by love for Jesus. We are commanded to love Jesus our God with all our heart, and we are to love others as Jesus has loved us. All of this brings us to our Gospel today (Matthew 16:24-28), in which Christ expresses the point in terms of losing our very life in this service of him, and thus gaining it. It is to be a close following indeed, taking up our “cross” and following in his footsteps. Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. On the Mountain at the Transfiguration the Father commanded that we “listen” to Jesus. A test of this will be the quality and degree of our service.

Let each of us set out every day to serve as well as we can. Our field of service will be suggested by our concrete responsibilities, duties, interests and aptitudes – especially our responsibilities both great and small. A century back, Pope Benedict XV declared that sanctity consists in doing one’s duty consistently as well as possible for the love of God. We must do what we are to do, and do it as well as we can, and for God. This will inevitably involve carrying the cross, and “losing one’s life” in the sense of going right against many personal preferences and desires. Let us do this in union with Jesus Christ, and in the midst of our faithful daily work let us strive to bear witness to Jesus and his divine teaching, because through this we shall render the greatest service of all, which is to contribute towards the eternal salvation of others.

(E. J. Tyler)

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