The grace of service, prayer and mission
Three qualities of Jesus to emulate
Feb. 7—Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Job 7:1-4. 6-7; Psalm 147, R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Gospel—Mark 1: 29-39
In last Sunday’s Gospel, we witnessed the very first public act of Jesus as He began His ministry, expelling a demon from a man in the synagogue. This defined a core message in the mission of Jesus, that there is an ongoing battle between good and evil in the world, and the mission is to overcome evil with good.
This Sunday we see the continuation from the same chapter in Mark, and this time we see three qualities of Jesus to emulate and which serve as our “tools” in sharing in His mission as His disciples.
Jesus is a man of service, a man for and with others as He constantly responded to the needs of others, setting aside His own needs to rest. Jesus is a man of prayer who time and again goes off to a deserted place to be in the solitude of prayer and in communion with His Father. And Jesus is a man on a mission whose successes in ministry and the praise and adulation of people do not distract from His mission.
Prayer and service
“Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”
This was His response to His disciples when they asked Him to go back to the crowds who were looking for Him and asking for more.
When we were in the novitiate, one of our early discussions about vocation was the interaction between prayer and service. Later on, as we did vocations promotions in Ateneo de Manila High School for our young men to consider becoming Jesuits, this was also an important consideration.
Many in the initial stages of discerning vocation or their calling are attracted to service, the desire and inspiration to do meaningful work, to reach out to those in need and to be of service to them, responding to their needs, letting them know they are not alone, and to work with them to make their lives better.
Prayer, or at least, initially, reflection, comes as a longing or need. In the midst of the busy-ness and all the activities of service, one longs for some quiet time, the need for stillness and solitude, at first to rest from all the work, developing into a deepening of inspiration and guidance through reflection and prayer.
This is not to say though that service, or vocation and mission, cannot be the fruit of prayer. One without the other makes either one an element that disintegrates us rather than integrates or reintegrates us, giving us a sense of wholeness.
It is St. Ignatius’ central grace or charism of being both contemplative and action-oriented, the contemplative in action.
What brings the two together is the sense of mission—mission both as a call from God and our response to His call. It is a call to service and our “yes” to being sent into the “field” to serve.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was among the first to refer to Jesus as a person for others, the first and foremost person for others. This has become the standard of service and discipleship. Later on, further reflection would add to a person for others being a person with others, to emphasize the solidarity and the fraternity with those who are served or to whom one is sent.
Supreme act
What we see a lot of in the Gospels is the service of Jesus: His miracles, His preaching, His healing, His exorcising, etc.
We see also His constant turning to prayer (“Rising very early before dawn, He left and went off to a deserted place, where He prayed”) but it is only in the Agony in the Garden that we see “in full view” what happens in Jesus’ prayer.
We see His deep union and dynamic relationship with God in His prayer in the garden. Here He says “yes” to the supreme act that will also fulfill His mission. “Not My will, but Your will be done.” This was His final “yes” to His mission to be our Savior by dying on the Cross, in loving obedience.
On the Cross, Jesus’ service, prayer and mission come together in an integrated whole; thus the Cross is the source of our integrity, and this integrity will be further solidified by the Resurrection.
The service, prayer and mission we strive to live out come together in the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection inviting us and giving us the grace to be men and women of service, prayer and mission.