Holy Thursday: Serve and Give

posted in: The Church Year | 0

Today's Mass of the Lord's Supper was a great beginning to the Triduum for me.  Fr. Frank's homily focused on the Mandatum of "serve and give:" a motto that was pounded home to him in his early seminary days.  It was a reflection on Matthew 20:28, and he made a point that really hit home to me: that those who get into ministry — any ministry — for the wrong reasons are bound to be disappointed.  The only reason for anyone to enter priestly ministry, diaconal ministry, the religious life or any lay ministry is to serve, just as Christ did, and to give of oneself.  Anything else is completely useless, completely false, and ultimately disappointing.

 

So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

 

Today's readings.