There is only one goal in Jesus’ life: the object is the Father and His mission is to fulfil His Father’s will. Indeed, life is not that complicated; Christ, living for this one goal, freely lets go of all other less important things; things that are of this world.

Throughout His life, He willingly offered up the most precious things in life, including time, friendship, security, desire to be loved, dignity, and even His own life;

without any reservation, He freely handed Himself over as an offering to His Father. In the same way, God has also given Himself completely to His Son; the Father and the Son abide in each other. The Father sustains His Son’s salvific work on earth with His infinite love. 

At the beginning of each day, when He is busy, before making any decisions or taking any actions, and before facing various challenges and suffering, Jesus often “sits at the feet of His Father” to converse with and listen to His Father’s words and instructions for Him. Only then, Jesus commences His work! We can certainly learn from the example set by our Lord Jesus Christ: what true service is; what a true relationship with our Father looks like; who we are in God’s eyes, and so on. Through this constant communication, we will get to know our role with more clarity, to know our Father better,  to love Him more, and to have a stronger desire to serve Him and to fulfil His will. Everything falls into place without resistance or design!

 Jesus our Lord is the perfect portrayal of what He has taught us in “The Lord’s Prayer”. When we pray the “Our Father”,  we only need to fix our gaze on Jesus, looking down on us from the cross, to clearly understand the lesson behind this prayer.

What delights the Father is not the Son’s doing things on His own, but first building a relationship with the Father. The constant communication between the two, in turn, allows Jesus to collaborate with His Father and fulfil His Father’s will. The Son, with full confidence in His Father, knows that only His Father can see and understand everything, and that His Father will give Him the best; thus He does not need to worry about planning but only rely on God’s direction on what to do and even what to say. Jesus, fully human, understands the constraints of time and space on earth; He also recognizes that fulfilling His mission in only three years is impossible if He relies solely on His own strength. He acknowledges that what is impossible for humans is possible for God. Jesus’ success in fulfilling the arduous mission commanded by His Father is directly related to His attitude and the ways in which He serves. The key is that Jesus knows the true spirit of service!

When Martha and Mary welcome Jesus, each uses her unique ways to serve Him. From the depth of Jesus’ love for Martha, He persuades Martha to step outside of her own perspective and see things from a different lens, that is, the way that Jesus wants Martha to serve Him. It is the way Jesus welcomes the Father into His heart, to encounter His Father in solitude; listening attentively to the Father’s words and instructions before taking any actions.

Therefore, the most beautiful service is not the work itself but listening. Such is the primary condition for serving the Lord; work always proceeds from listening. Work without listening is, at best, our own “preference” that is detached from the Father. 

In addition to Jesus being our role-model, teaching us the true spirit of service, God the Father Himself also teaches us how to serve Jesus His Son. 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 17, Verse 5, God declares,

Just as the Son listens to the Father, in the same way the Father wants us to listen to His Son.

Mary’s last message recorded in the Bible echoes the Father’s will. In “The Wedding of Cana”, the mother of Jesus tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)

In the same way, Mary fulfils the Father’s will in her life with the same attitude. Regarding everything concerning her son Jesus, she has

This unique trait of Mary is fully manifested throughout her life. Sparse in words but rich in her attentiveness to God’s ways, she has completely offered herself and her will to God. Just as how angel Gabriel greets her,

Inspired by the Holy Spirit who lives within her, Mary also foreshadows her own blessedness in the “Magnificat”. 

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 46 to 49, the Blessed Virgin Mary exclaims in the “Magnificat”,

This “blessedness” is rooted in Mary’s knowledge of “true service” to God, and the Father has so richly blessed her!

Reflection

What is your attitude towards serving God and in what ways do you serve? What new inspiration has the Holy Spirit given you through this reflection?

How do these new messages inspire you to change the way you serve God?

In what areas can you learn from the examples of Lord Jesus Christ and our Mother Mary as you strive to live out the true spirit of service?

Today’s Prayer

Kind and gracious Abba Father, I now recognize my ways of serving You have been according to my will, not Yours. Thank you for reminding me of how I should serve You through this reflection. I am determined not to serve according to my preference or my desires. I completely surrender myself to You. Let me serve You with a humble heart, and learn from the examples of Jesus and Mother Mary, so that I will no longer be self-centered or rely on my own strength in all I do. From this day on, I am willing to follow Your will and to serve You and Jesus in ways that delight You! For this I pray, in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.