First Reading:  Acts 13: 13-25
Psalm 89
Gospel John 13: 16-20

We have a mission. We are sent to continue the proclamation of the Good News.  This is not just the role of the hierarchy.  It is every Christian’s responsibility to give witness.  We are sent to share, in action, the message that God loves and God saves, just as St. Paul (and all the apostles) was called to be an apostle and a servant.  This means above all else, we are called to choose to be of service to others, serving them as Jesus came to serve rather than to be served. Those who receive the message we share, receive the message of the One sent by our Father, they receive Jesus.

Today's readings remind us that each of us, as disciples of Jesus, is part of God’s plan: He has control over history.  The Word of God, spoken through the patriarchs and prophets, focused on the time when God would save the people. GOD’s plan was to send the Son with the mission and the ministry of announcing salvation and bringing it about through His own death and resurrection.  The plan was not limited to the years that Jesus walked on this earth in His human body.  It reaches out from that key moment.

The main way of witnessing to the Good News is found in the Gospel.  We are called to be servants, just as Jesus served, willing to “wash the feet” of others: that can take many forms – unconditional love for our family shown in the routine tasks we do with a cheerful heart; the way we treat those at work; the caring for the sick and aged. We “serve” when we smile at people whom we encounter in our daily activities. Whenever we are willing to think of others before ourselves, then we are imitating our Master.  From serving others and sharing the Good News with them (first in action) people should be able to see our relationship with our Master, just as Jesus revealed His relationship with His Father by His acts of loving service and His words. Let us make the words of today’s psalm resonate within us: let us pray and live it. The good news is, glorifying and thanking God for all He does in us, we will be elevated to share in His glory!  This is one fruit of the Christian life that blesses us beyond what we could ever come up with ourselves.
May God bless all of us,
Abba Meskel