So the reading last Sunday was the often controversial verses from Ephesians 5. You know, the one that tells wives to be subservient to their husbands? Yes, I thought you’d heard of it. All through the church, there were nudges and smirks, as usual.
But what does this verse really mean? It actually goes on to tell husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His church—and how much more loving can you get than that? In my humble opinion, this verse is all about how we as human beings and parts of the Body of Christ, should treat each other.
The clue is in the use of the word subservient. Looking up the actual meaning of this word led me to the following: “servile, useful as a means or an instrument”. St. Francis famously prayed “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.” We often ask Christ to make us His hands on earth—why? To serve each other as He serves us. The greatest witness we can give, the most important role model we can be and the best way to show Christ to others is to serve them! Our faith is all about service to others—without that service, we have an empty faith.
• Offer compassion and acceptance in all we do for others.
• Step outside our comfort zone to share with others.
• Sacrifice from our first fruits, not our leftovers.
• Always remember that those we serve are fellow members of the Body of Christ, fellow children of God.
• Realize that we are all a huge family and everyone is our brother or sister, deserving of our love.
Mother Theresa knew how to do this, and she is our hero!!
