There is so much we take for granted when expecting service from others: our domestic help, service providers, municipal workers, civil servants, shopkeepers. When it comes to our turn to serve, in whatever capacity, do we do so ungrudgingly, knowing that we are called to emulate Christ? Or do we look for recognition and recompense?

As St. Paul reminds us in the first reading, we must set an example by our own way of doing; we must live as responsible persons dedicated to what is good. When we serve others, we are merely doing the duty entrusted to us by God. At the same time, it is a duty to be discharged with sensitivity. For example, we receive God’s word in the Gospel and share this teaching with others, but such teaching is empty if it does not become a reality that we observe. When we preach love, we must practice it too.

And speaking of setting a dutiful example, how often do we offer thanks for what we have received from God and from others?