Holy Week: To Serve and Be Served

We are meant to serve but also to be served.
Breadwinners, stars, and bratty children want everything done for them. They want to be served because they think themselves special with special priveleges.
On the other hand, there are those who are continually serving, attending to the every need of everyone. They carry a false martyrdom, of being the good one and the loving one.
Then, there are those who neither want to serve and be served, carrying the badge of self-sufficiency.
The acts of serving and being served do not necessarily mean HUMILITY or ARROGANCE. Peter was rebuked for not wanting his feet to be washed by Jesus. The apostles were rebuked when they did not want Mary to wash the feet of Jesus with perfume.

Jesus says, "If I wash you not, you shall have no part with me." Serving and not wanting to be served can be acts of self-centeredness and can be self-serving. Pope Benedict XVI connected acts of charity in the service of Truth. "Caritas in Veritate 79: Development needs Christians with their arms raised towards God in prayer, Christians moved by the knowledge that TRUTH-FILLED LOVE, caritas in veritate, from which authentic development proceeds, is not produced by us, but GIVEN TO US. For this reason, even in the most difficult and complex times, besides recognizing what is happening, we must above all else turn to God's love."

For the modern times, the "washing of the feet" had been focused on service and humility. For St Augustine, the "washing of the feet" also meant a continuing SPIRITUAL WASHING - cleansing as we engage in public life. Such cleansing is necessary even after the regeneration brought about by our Baptism.
The point is this: guilt must not be allowed to FESTER in the SILENCE of the SOUL, poisoning it from within. It needs to be confessed. Through confession, we bring it into the light, we place it within Christ's PURIFYING LOVE (cf Jn3:20-21). In confession, the Lord washes our soiled feet over and over again and prepares us for TABLE FELLOWSHIP with Him."Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth vol2, p74)

Thus, "to serve and be served" is to "be blessed and be a blessing". In communion with God, we can be in communion with others. As God becomes an integral part of our life, our individual persons can be integrated with humanity in harmony, serving each other physically and spiritually.

":not telling God what to do, but learning to ACCEPT HIM as He reveals Himself to us; noy seeking to exalt ourselves to God's level, but in HUMBLE SERVICE letting ourselves be slowly REFASHIONED into God's true Image."Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth vol2, p72)