Serving others

Richard A. Sokerka

In a homily he gave earlier this month, Pope Francis said that one’s life ought to be spent imitating Jesus’ example of humble service and self-giving, rather than focusing on one’s own needs, interests and material possessions.

Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for others and he did it out of love, the Pope said.

“Raised on the Cross, he allows death and evil to assail him while he continues to love” — a reality that for us can be hard to accept,” Pope Francis said. But Jesus not only overcame death, he transformed it into something good, he said, explaining that we can share in his victory if we choose to love like him, with an attitude of service and humility.

Sadly, the Pope pointed out, “In the eyes of today’s world, whoever serves and gives to others, seems like a failure. But in reality,” he said, “it is exactly in giving their life that they find it,” he said.

And it is serving others, Pope Francis said, that allows us to drop our attachment to and love of our worldly possessions, and to place our security in Jesus and the salvation he offers.

In our society today, how often are people the ones being used while possessions are being loved? If, as a society and as followers of Jesus, we turn that around to understand that it is people who need to be loved and possessions that need to be used, think about all the good that could be accomplished in our world in Jesus’ name.