Last April I had my wisdom teeth removed. My sister Abbey was my designated driver to take me home after the procedure. One thing about Abbey is that she is not particularly fond of dealing with blood. Even just the word “blood” being brought up in conversation is enough to make her feel squeamish. After the procedure was done, she drove to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions while I waited in the car. Just as she was getting back to the car, I made the mistake of putting my head down to look at my phone. As that happened, an excessive amount of blood dripped down and started pooling out from my mouth, and it wouldn’t stop. She noticed this after driving a few feet away from the pharmacy and after panicking for a few brief moments, pulled into the parking lot of another business. She got out of the car and came over to the passenger side. After blood had already dripped all over her car, she helped me to lean out of the car and into the parking lot. She pulled out more gauze from the bag that was sent home with me, rolled it up and assisted me with replacing it every few minutes as each piece filled with blood and I needed a new one. She held the bag with the blood- soaked gauze and tissues for those few minutes before it slowed down and we were able to continue back home. We often laugh now about this situation, but as I think back about those moments, I recognize that Abbey served me when I needed it. She did something that was inconvenient. She gave when there was nothing I could give her in return in those moments. And we are all called to do the same. We may not be called to physically wipe up another person’s actual blood, but we are called to serve others with love and compassion.
When we serve others, we serve Jesus Himself. Each day, we are called to be attentive to the needs of others, whether big or small. This can be something as simple as listening to a family member talk about the difficult day they had, helping a coworker with a project they are behind on, visiting a friend who feels alone, or offering to pray with someone. Other times, it may be something bigger like volunteering at an organization that helps those in need, giving someone a ride, helping a neighbor or a fellow parish member with something, or taking care of someone who is sick or unable to do something for themselves, whether temporarily or permanently. In all of these situations, we must look outside ourselves and see where Jesus is asking us to serve.
Not only are we called to serve, but we are called to do it with compassion and love. To serve with compassion and love is to serve even when it might be inconvenient, difficult, or uncomfortable. When Jesus was making the way to His crucifixion, Veronica stepped out from the crowd to wipe the blood and sweat from Jesus’ face. A seemingly small act, she was moved by Jesus’ suffering and chose to act, and she did it out of love. Are we too moved by the needs of those around us, choosing to act out of love? As St. Ignatius of Loyola said, do we choose to “give and not count the cost?”
There are opportunities each day for us to serve others. Whether it’s being there for someone who is struggling with something or hurting, giving our time to serve a group of people in need, or helping a sibling replace bloody gauze pads, Jesus is there in the midst of all of it, because when we serve others, we serve Him. My prayer for each one of us today is that we would be able to open our eyes to where He is calling us to step up and serve, giving of ourselves without expecting anything in return.
“Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve as you deserve, To give and not to count the cost, To fight and not to heed the wounds, To labor and not to seek to rest, To give of my self and not ask for a reward, Except the reward of knowing that I am doing your will.”- St. Ignatius of Loyola
Faith and The Good Stuff 