When our hearts are filled with gratitude and awe towards God, we too can serve Jesus faithfully no matter the challenges and difficulties we face.
Serve God always with gratitude and awe
I attended a webinar on religious life during the COVID-19 pandemic that promised to renew and energize me in my commitment as a religious priest. However, it turned out to be a series of endless whining sessions. The attendees, both men and women religious, priests and nuns, constantly complained and grumbled about the challenges and difficulties of living consecrated chastity, the way that authority and power are being abused in the Church, and the usefulness of religious poverty.
I found myself wondering what in the world has happened to our sense of gratitude for our calling to belong to Jesus and to serve others in His name. Of course, it is challenging and demanding to follow Jesus in consecrated poverty, chastity, and obedience. It is also true that there are abuses and we experience injustices in our life and mission. But the endless complaining showed that we are taking for granted the great privilege of being called to belong to Jesus and to labor with Him in the salvation of immortal souls redeemed by His blood.
We must first be reminded that our desire to know, love, and serve God are gifts that Jesus merited for us on the cross. Jesus was crushed with suffering to bring us into a right relationship of loving obedience to God, “The Lord was pleased to crush Him in infirmity…The will of the Lord shall be accomplished through Him…Through His suffering, my servant shall justify many.” (Is 53:10-11) We cannot desire and resolve to serve and obey God with love if we have not experienced that love that comes to us from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
We must also remember that the graces that we need to serve God in our trials and challenges are also gifts that Jesus won for us by His trials. Jesus is the severely tested and perfectly faithful high priest who sympathizes with our weakness so that we can participate in His own fidelity, “So, let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” (Heb 4:14-16) We cannot serve and obey God in anything out of love for Him without the graces and mercy that Christ won for us in His own trials.
Since the call and desire to serve God, as well as the grace and mercy that we need to serve God faithfully are all gifts from our crucified and risen Lord, shouldn’t we strive to serve God with deep gratitude and awe even in the face of challenges and difficulties? Is there any sane person who can claim to have the right in himself or herself to serve God in any capacity? Is there anyone so proud as to boast of rendering faithful service to God without the help of His grace and mercy? When we begin to grasp that serving God is indeed a gift of His love, then our complaining and grumbling should give way and be replaced by deep gratitude and reverence. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “When you have done all that you are commanded to you, say, ‘We are useless servants. We have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Lk 17:10)
In several ways, the disciples show in Mk 10:35-45 that they have lost the sense of gratitude in being called to obey and serve God in Jesus Christ.
Firstly, they show a lack of gratitude by grasping for positions of glory and preeminence in God’s kingdom, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” They are very much unlike Jesus who did not grasp onto what was His own but lovingly received His mission of service from the Father, “He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.” (Phil 2:6-7)
Truly grateful servants do not grasp onto anything as a form of entitlement but lovingly receive what God offers to them as gifts. We need to be reminded of the importance of this grateful and humble service in these times of endless discussions and clamoring for women to be ordained deacons as if one’s gender gives the person a right to be ordained. Ordination remains a pure gift from Jesus to be received in His Catholic Church with humility and gratitude and not an item to be pursued through activism and lobbying.
Secondly, the disciples showed their ingratitude through their bitter rivalry and bad competition. The two brothers tried to get ahead by asking for glory while the others responded with indignation, “When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.” They were so consumed by this rivalry that they showed such behavior in Jesus’ presence.
Truly grateful servants will refuse to be involved in such petty rivalry but will focus on fulfilling the will of Jesus and cultivating mutual support and encouragement. They are so focused on serving the Lord who has graciously called them that they have no time for rivalry.
Thirdly, the disciples show their lack of gratitude by giving in to worldliness. Instead of becoming like Jesus, “who came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many,” they try to “lord over others and make their authority felt.” They adopt a worldly notion of power and authority that is contrary to that of Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, grateful and reverent souls will labor for the salvation of souls in this world. Realizing the utter gratuity of their call to serve and save souls, these souls will be passionate in their apostolate with little care of what people think or say about them and their service.
Lastly, the disciples show their lack of gratitude by failing to share in Jesus’ spirit of self-sacrifice. They are looking for instant glory without sacrifice and the suffering of the cross. They settle for glory that comes only from asking in prayer and in competing with others. Ungrateful souls can’t take any risk for Christ’s sake. They will always seek to protect themselves at all costs and they will do anything to avoid suffering and pain.
Truly grateful servants will follow Jesus along the way of the cross to glory. They will face hardship and persecution with Jesus because they are so grateful that Jesus has lovingly invited them to follow Him to Calvary for the good of souls. The words of Jesus echo in their minds and hearts, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there too will my servant be.”(Jn 12:26)
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many vocations are not embraced today because many think themselves unworthy of being called to be priests, religious, nuns, or even volunteers in Church. Many vocations are lost because people think that they have the right to certain conditions or honors as they serve. Many have lost the joy and energy of service because they have lost the gratitude of being called by Almighty God to serve others in His name. All these unfortunate things happen in our vocations because we do not realize that God’s calling, His graces, and His rewards are all gifts offered to us gratuitously by Jesus.
In the difficult and challenging moments that will surely come in our life of service, we can always reclaim and renew our gratitude and awe for being called and gifted to belong to Jesus and serve and save souls with Him and for Him. We can do that in two very easy ways.
First, let us look with great faith and love at Jesus Christ on the cross for us. Thank Him for obtaining for us the desire and the resolve to serve others for His sake. Thank Him for all the graces that He has given to us to sustain us in His service. Thank Him also for His mercies that have raised us up in our failures and weaknesses. Beg Him for the grace to be faithful to Him always.
Second, let us learn from the Blessed Virgin Mary. She served God out of the deep gratitude in her heart for God’s call and grace in her life, “He who is mighty has done great things for me.”(Lk 1:49) Her deep gratitude and awe kept her faithful to the very end. We can enter into her deep awe and gratitude by praying her Magnificat found in Lk 1:46-55.
When our hearts are filled with gratitude and awe towards God, we too can serve Jesus faithfully no matter the challenges and difficulties we face.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Image credit: “King David in Prayer” (detail) Pieter de Grebber [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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About the author:
Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, is a Roman Catholic priest and religious of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary currently serving in the Philippines. He teaches theology and is a seminary formator for candidates to the priesthood and religious life. Father also gives Ignatian retreats and serves as spiritual director to many of the lay, religious, and clergy in the area.
He earned his first degree in Physics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Ordained in 2009, he studied at St. John’s seminary, in Brighton, Massachusetts. Father has an STL/MA in Moral Theology from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.
Father Moneme blogs at https://toquenchhisthirst.wordpress.com/.
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