The Grace of Service
I would like to start with a few definitions if you will bear with me. For these definitions I will be referring to: Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J., as is my custom.
Grace: As the Church has come to explain the meaning of grace, it refers to something more than the gifts of nature, such as creation or the blessings of bodily health. Grace is the supernatural gift that God, of his free benevolence, bestows on rational creatures for their eternal salvation.
Service: In general, performing one’s religious duty as a creature toward God, and fulfilling one’s moral responsibility of meeting the needs of others.
One needs to keep in mind that, the above are simply short extracts from the definitions provided in Modern Catholic Dictionary. But for my purpose they should suffice.
I recently became involved in the Visitation Ministry at Our Lady of Walsingham, the Cathedral of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. As a part of this ministry, I was trained and instituted as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. In addition to bringing Christ in the Eucharist to the sick or homebound, we provide a visible presence of their continued participation in the parish community, that they have not been forgotten, and that they are valued.
Thursday After Ash Wednesday I made my first home visit. We had been given special dispensation from our Rector and Pastor, and I was provided ash from the Ash Wednesday Mass, which I would distribute in addition to the Eucharist.
What I should do here is talk about my visit, what impact I would hope it would have on the one visited. The importance that social and spiritual outreach has on the sick and homebound. The hope and joy that something as simple as a 15-minute visit can bring to someone isolated. How the simple presence of another can brighten one’s day. All this is very true and can be exceedingly impactful, and a blessing.
What I did not expect was the impact that it had upon me. The gift that I was graced with. The overwhelming comfort, peace and refreshment that this short act of service brought to me. A feeling which I cannot adequately describe. An abounding source of confidence that our Lord just did some great work through me. What have I, a poor sinner, ever done to be so blessed as to be His instrument? Nothing! That is what confounds us. In the transactional world which we live, we expect nothing without a cost, nothing in life is free, you scratch my back - I’ll scratch yours. However, God gives even when not deserved, earned or merited. That is what Grace is. That is God. And that day, I experienced Grace in the truest, and purest form.
Send Comments: boniface@oblate.info
Grace: As the Church has come to explain the meaning of grace, it refers to something more than the gifts of nature, such as creation or the blessings of bodily health. Grace is the supernatural gift that God, of his free benevolence, bestows on rational creatures for their eternal salvation.
Service: In general, performing one’s religious duty as a creature toward God, and fulfilling one’s moral responsibility of meeting the needs of others.
One needs to keep in mind that, the above are simply short extracts from the definitions provided in Modern Catholic Dictionary. But for my purpose they should suffice.
I recently became involved in the Visitation Ministry at Our Lady of Walsingham, the Cathedral of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. As a part of this ministry, I was trained and instituted as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. In addition to bringing Christ in the Eucharist to the sick or homebound, we provide a visible presence of their continued participation in the parish community, that they have not been forgotten, and that they are valued.
Thursday After Ash Wednesday I made my first home visit. We had been given special dispensation from our Rector and Pastor, and I was provided ash from the Ash Wednesday Mass, which I would distribute in addition to the Eucharist.
What I should do here is talk about my visit, what impact I would hope it would have on the one visited. The importance that social and spiritual outreach has on the sick and homebound. The hope and joy that something as simple as a 15-minute visit can bring to someone isolated. How the simple presence of another can brighten one’s day. All this is very true and can be exceedingly impactful, and a blessing.
What I did not expect was the impact that it had upon me. The gift that I was graced with. The overwhelming comfort, peace and refreshment that this short act of service brought to me. A feeling which I cannot adequately describe. An abounding source of confidence that our Lord just did some great work through me. What have I, a poor sinner, ever done to be so blessed as to be His instrument? Nothing! That is what confounds us. In the transactional world which we live, we expect nothing without a cost, nothing in life is free, you scratch my back - I’ll scratch yours. However, God gives even when not deserved, earned or merited. That is what Grace is. That is God. And that day, I experienced Grace in the truest, and purest form.
Send Comments: boniface@oblate.info
