Serving Christ Sincerely

In today’s first reading, Ephesians 6: 1-9, St. Paul exhorts us to stop provoking our children to anger. Rather “bring them up with the training and the instruction of the Lord.”  Paul challenges us  to give service   to others “in sincerity of heart, as to Christ.”  We are asked to do “the will of God from the heart, willingly serving the Lord and not [humans], knowing that each will be requited from the Lord for whatever good he [or she] does…”  “Masters,” Paul emphatically states, “…stop bullying, knowing that both [those who serve you in your businesses—ecclesial or civil, corporate or governmental, familial or social-- or as heads of families] they and you have a Master in heaven and that with …[God] there is no partiality.”

How frightening it is to see how low we have fallen. We have listened to bullying for the past year as persons campaigned to become the next president of the U.S.A. We read reports of members of Congress having bullied the president for the past eight years and then complain that he has done nothing good.  Every evening, the nightly news also contains reports of bullying. We see bullying from sexual predators, home invaders,  corrupt politicians, corrupt CEOs of pharmaceutical companies and in the banking industry, on Wall Street and so many other corporations. We hear of drug lords, persons engaged in criminal activity or planning to harm others, to riot and revolutionize the country and on and on! The people doing good in the world—and there are millions--go unnoticed,  for the most part!

 The question is: am I contributing to this world’s darkness or am I among those striving to bring the light of Christ into  the darkness around me? What am I doing to make the world a place where “training and instruction of the Lord” prevails, where persons are taught to give service to others “in sincerity of heart, as to Christ”? Am I “willingly serving the Lord and not [humans]”?

Lord, have mercy on us and help look at ways to make the world a better place, to collaborate with others for the sake of the common good and to resolve problems that need to be addressed. May we sincerely do Your will from hearts turned to You and relying upon You!