Today,
the Gospel message is not placed on the master's attitude, but on the
servant's. Jesus, with the example of a parable, invites his apostles
to consider the stance of service: the servant should fulfill his
duties without expecting any reward: «Do you thank this servant
for doing what you commanded?» (Lk 17:9). However, this
is not the Master's last lesson on service. Later on, Jesus will tell
his disciples: «I no longer call you slaves, because a slave
does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father»
(Jn 15:15). Friends do not have to render accounts to each
other. If servants are to fulfill their duties, we, his apostles, who
are Jesus' friends, must, even more so, accomplish the mission God
has entrusted us with, while realizing our work does not deserve any
recompense, for we make it joyously and, because whatever we have,
whatever we are, is a gift we have received from God.
For
all those who believe, everything is a sign, for all those who love,
everything is a gift. Working for God's Kingdom is already a great
reward; hence, the expression «We are no more than servants; we
have only done our duty» (Lk 17:10) should not be
interpreted with dejection or sadness, but with the joy of he who
knows that has been called to spread the knowledge of the Gospel.
These
days we also keep in mind the feast of a great saint, a great friend
of Jesus, and very popular in the territory of Catalonia, St. Martin
of Tours, who devoted all his life to the service of the Gospel of
Christ. Sulpicius Severus writes of him: «Extraordinary man,
whom neither toil and suffering, nor the fact of death could bend his
resolve; he did not lean toward either side, he was not afraid of
dying, but he did not refuse to live! Eyes and hands towards Heaven,
his undefeated spirit kept on praying». In our prayers, in our
dialogue with our Friend, that is where the secret and the strength
of our service lie.
