Chotard Doll

Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“For who is greater, the one who is at the table, or the one who serves?...But I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:27)

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus had just shared the Passover meal with the disciples and spoken of his death. And they react by jostling for position, to see who would be regarded as the greatest.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says self-justification is the nature of the natural man, causing us to judge each other. And how quickly it pushes aside our desire to know and follow Christ!

But Jesus is about to go forth and suffer a humiliating death in order to set us free from that preoccupation with self. The disciples—like us—still have a lot to learn, and most of them learn the hard way.

Today we celebrate St Bartholomew, hardly mentioned at all in the gospels except as one of the 12 apostles. Yet he is credited with carrying the gospel to the East, to Armenia and beyond, where he was flayed to death for his service to Christ.

Our actions reflect our faith. As St. Ignatius prayed: “Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve: to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will.” Amen.

Faithfully,

—Chotard