The Mystery of Ministry

August 2: Saturday of Week 17 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24; Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34; Matthew 14:1-2

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“In truth it was the Lord who sent me to you.” Jeremiah 26:15

Ministry is an experience of union with God.

First, because ministry is often so disappointing and dangerous that, to persevere, we need the support of knowing, “in truth it was the Lord who sent me.”

More deeply, we know God never just “sends” us. We minister as Christ’s living body on earth. He ministers with us, in us, and through us. If not, there is no point in getting out of bed.

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them, “Go make disciples of all nations… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the world.” The name God gave him—Emmanuel—means “God with us.”

The soul of ministry is to let Jesus express himself in and through our physical words and actions. This is the mystery that makes ministry a “mystical experience.”

By faith we share in God’s own act of knowing. By expressing our faith we let God share his truth with others as he did in Jesus: in human words and actions. When God’s words are made flesh in us, the “Word made flesh” is visibly among us.

It is Christ’s love, made flesh in our actions, that comforts the afflicted, drives out demons, heals wounds in the sinning and sinned against, and gives “life to the full.”

PRAY: “Lord, be with me. Let me be with you.”

PRACTICE: Speak and act consciously as Jesus.