Gospel: November 12, 2024
November 12, 2024 (Tuesday)
32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 4 / (Red)
St. Josaphat, bishop & martyr
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 37: 3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
1st Reading: Titus 2: 1-8, 11-14
Gospel: Luke 17: 7-10
Who among you would say to your servant, coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Go ahead and have your dinner’? No, you tell him, ‘Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterward.’ Do you thank this servant for doing what you told him to do? I don’t think so. And therefore, when you have done all that you have been told to do, you should say, ‘We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Reflection:
“True service”
Jesus came not to be served but to serve (cf. Mk 10:45; Mt 20:28). When Jesus came to serve others, giving his life for the redemption of all, he dignified service. Nobody wanted to serve because service was always associated with undignified servitude. The servant was always in disadvantageous position. This disadvantageous position is better shown by today’s Gospel passage. Jesus taught his disciples a lesson on the duty of a servant. The servant, after doing all his works, is never expected to receive words of gratitude from his master because he is only doing his obligation and duty as a servant. We may reflect on the fact that Jesus is our master but he is also the one who came to serve. With Jesus coming into the world, servanthood has ceased to be a sheer obligation. Service for others remains to be a duty, but it has become a sacred duty. Moreover, servanthood has stopped to be controlled by external authority. It has become something that springs up from one’s inner self and out of one’s innate goodness. True service is something that flows from within, similar to what it really was in the beginning when God’s goodness emanates and overflows.
