Mass Readings for Nov. 13, 2018 with reflection

1st Reading:

Titus 2:1-8, 11-14

Psalm 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29

Psalm: "The salvation of the just comes from the Lord."

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.

Gospel: Luke 17:7-10

7 Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? 8 Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? 9 Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

THE JOY OF SERVICE

In the 2017 cinematic rendition of Wonder Woman, there was a scene where Diana Prince was talking to the secretary of Steve Trevor. Being from the world of the amazons, she asked her what a secretary is. The secretary responded, “Well, I do whatever he tells me to do.” In response, Diana said, “From where I came from, that is called a slave.”

Todays’ Gospel ends with Jesus telling His listeners, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10, NIV).

If Diana Prince were in Jesus’ audience, He would have heard the same stern rebuke, “From where I came from, that is called a slave.”

Jesus was not recommending here a slavish mentality. On the contrary, Jesus was making an important distinction between a servant mentality and a servile mentality.

A servant mentality is the spirituality of a servant. A servile mentality is the burden of a slave.

A servant and a slave may perform exactly the same things but they do with an entirely different motivation. A servant performs tasks out of freedom, love, and charity. A slave does the work out of necessity and economy.

How is it that a mother who prepares food, washes the clothes, tidies the house, and cares for the children flourishes in her humanity, grows in love and charity? Because her work is motivated by love. On the contrary, when a woman does the same work with a servile mentality, she is humiliated and burdened by the work she performs. She becomes bitter and angry.

All of us have work to perform and duties to accomplish. Let us go about them with a servant — not a servile — mentality. ~ Fr. Joel O. Jason