Our Ministries
3 Nov

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Walk the Talk

Jesus often asks his disciples to practice what they preach—to walk the talk. This is appropriate behavior for religious leaders. Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of power grabbing, of seeking greatness. “They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.”

Instead of heavy-handed teaching and interpretation, Jesus asks them to be aware of the need to walk the talk. Instead, he counsels them to be humble in their service. He reiterates the lesson Paul teaches about the gentleness of the nursing mother. The mother’s life is inseparable from the survival of her baby. She quietly disappears into the nurturing role, a role of coaching. Paul tells us that the best leadership is the kind that vanishes into its service.

This week is Vocation Awareness Week! Each of us has a unique vocation, a unique way of knowing, loving, and serving God.  Vocation awareness is not about power. It is about service. It is not about seeking greatness. Only God is great!

Today we have an invitation to name the persons in our lives who disappear behind their service. What lessons do they teach us? How can we “walk the talk” in our own lives? When we lay heavy burdens on others, how do we assist them? In what ways do we have lifting fingers?

We pray: O God, help our deeds match our words and nudge us to attend to one another as a nursing mother cares for her children.  Help us to know what it means to have lifting fingers and hands of service. Amen.

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