A JOB OPENING?

 We know that Saint Paul had this deep, mystical side; he wrote, for example, "It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" and "For me, to live is Christ." But there's his much better known active, missionary side as well. It was this latter side that comes out in a verse that occurred in the first reading at mass this Friday: 

"Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ..." (1 Cor. 4:1) 

Looking for some food for meditation, I opened to this verse in Paul's original Greek and saw the word for "servant" was huperetes. I wasn't familiar with this word, but a minute's investigation offered me a challenging meditation on my Christian vocation. I share it with you here.

The Greek huperetes is used in a number of ways in the New Testament:

1. an attendant to a king
2. an officer of the Sanhedrin
3. an attendant of a magistrate
4. a temple guard (in John's gospel)

It occurred to me that all of these are pretty active roles often requiring effort, the exercise of responsibility, and, of course accountability.  

I asked myself, "Should I apply for the job as a "servant of Christ?" What sort of work would it involve? What would be my responsibilities? Who would I answer to? What sort of pay is involved? Any benefits?

Not long after asking myself these question I found myself being asked by Christ to help him with certain tasks: A phone call to a friend who is a shut-in. A kind attitude in a difficult discussion with a brother. A smile and a listening ear to a troubled man who came to the monastery's door looking for someone to listen to him.

Now I can look back on these incidents using the criteria listed above for a good "servant of Christ: "effort, the exercise of responsibility, and, of course accountability." So, it seems that like you, I got this job at my baptism, and all through my life I've been at various times a faithful servant or a lax one. 

Let's pray for one another that we can be, to use another word from Paul, "fellow workers" in preaching and building the Kingdom.

A "GREAT" SERVANT

September 3 is the feast of Saint Gregory the Great. He was pope during the 500's, one of the most tumultuous time in the Church's history The center of the Empire had shifted from Rome to Constantinople, which meant a lot of sensitive diplomacy ion the Pope's side. Barbarians were marauding up and down the Italian peninsula, posing a constant threat to the city of Rome and causing the breakdown of the economic, governmental and other systems. The Arian heresy was shattering the Church into warring factions. This was the backdrop of the papacy of Gregory.  

How did the manage to rise above all of this confusions, even chaos far enough to write countless treatises and letters, He left us the first biography of Saint Benedict of Nursia, and wrote a book entitled "On Pastoral Care" which would become the handbook for medieval bishops. It's in this latter book that he leaves us his secret for staying above the chaos all around him:

"A bishop must not neglect his inner life because of the attention he gives to externals; nor must preoccupation with his inner life make him fail to attend to external matters." Gregory assumes that a bishop will spend time in "lofty contemplation" to balance the busyness and stress of his external responsibilities. So, there you hae Gregory's key to holiness.

Talk about a "Servant of God!" 

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us!