Called to Serve

"What we do for ourselves, dies with us; what we do for others lives forever and for God for eternity."  (My Pastor loosely quoted)

We are living in a very self-serving society.  We are bombarded with enhancing our self-esteem, demanding our liberty and our personal rights.  Seldom are we encouraged to reach out to others--to serve others.   We are constantly told if we have this or that "thing" we'll be happy and we deserve it and the happiness it brings.  Yet many people are depressed; they aren't happy.  Though many people are seeking personal freedom, the freedom they are promised by others is often not realized.  At times the very thing they are pursuing to achieve this freedom is in reality enslaving themselves.  

It may seem to be a contradiction but those who reach out and serve others are the ones who really achieve freedom.

As Christians we believe God has called us to love and serve Him and others.  God gave us a free will and He wants our love and service and He wants us to love and serve others.  Yet, since He gave us a free will we have to make the decision whether we will serve Him and others or whether we will choose to serve ourselves.    

Those American Catholics who were catechized prior to Vatican II probably remember the answer in the Baltimore Catechism to the question "Why did God make us?"; i.e., "To know, love and serve Him in this world and to be with Him in the next."  What wisdom there was in that answer.

Have you ever noticed how truly happy those people are who reach out and voluntary serve and help others.  Really it is human nature in the positive sense to do this--parents who do whatever they can to assure their children are raised well;  spouses who demonstrate their love for each other daily; priests, religious and others who give their lives for others; siblings who love and help each other; etc.; etc.; etc.

When our pastor stated what I quoted above, I thought to myself he said a mouthful.  I am convinced the more willingly we serve God and others the happier we will be and the impact we'll leave will go on for generations and possibly eternity.

Life Worth Living

'"Vanity of vanities and all is vanity" except to love God and serve Him alone,'  My Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis

I encountered the above quote from Thomas a Kempis in the mid 1950s, while still a teenager, when I purchased this Catholic clerics classical book of meditations.  This quotation which is based upon Ecclesiastes 1:2 has stuck in my mind ever since.

I find it fascinating that this observation that the majority of scripture scholars conclude was written in Ecclesiastes around 250 BC, and Thomas a Kempis wrote his "Imitation of Christ" sometime in the 15th century, and that this fact remains true to this day in the 21st century.

Thomas was born in the town of Kempen, Germany either in 1379 or 1380 and died on July 24th, 1471.  His correct name was Thomas "Haemerken" with various spelling versions depending on the country writing about him.  His father was a "blacksmith" which translated in Germany depending on the area was spelled "Haemerken"--his mother was a school mistress.  Since he was from Kempen he became known by the Latin name Thomas a Kempis, i.e., Thomas from Kempen.  He wrote many books and transcribed many copies of the Bible, but his "Imitation of Christ"
is the most popular and it is second in printing only to the Bible.  He is recognized throughout the world as "Thomas a Kempis".

The reading from Ecclesiastes (1:2, 2:21-33) was the first scripture reading for this Sunday's Mass, August 4th, 2013; the other scripture passages were Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 and Luke 12:13-12.  The latter dealt with greed or misplaced priorities.  Our pastor made the following observation worth repeating.  "The things we do for ourselves die with us; whereas, the things we do for others lives forever."   He added, "Especially if we do them for God."  He went on to say by "others"  he is not referring to our family members as they are extension of ourselves; rather those things we do for "our neighbor", our neighbor as exemplified in Jesus' parable of the "Good Samaritan".

One last thought, over the years I've come to believe and endorse the maxim:  "Expect little from others; demand the most from oneself.  

When I remind myself of the above, I find myself surprised as I recognized how much good others actually do and humbled realizing how little I do.