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Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 18 October 2015


Fr Robin Gibbons

Fr Robin Gibbons

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Church historians debate the significance of Constantine's acceptance of Christianity as a legitimate religion from 313 onwards. It is true that without his support the story of our faith may have been very different indeed, but the gradual inclusion of Christians in society led to a great expansion of their faith throughout Europe, the Middle East and other territories. When the Roman Empire eventually collapsed, the Church remained as a stable force and achieved much through expansion and missionary endeavor. Its legacy can be seen all around us, not only in buildings, but in many areas of life, cultural, legal, medical and educational.

Whilst these achievements have been largely beneficial , the darker side of the institution has sometimes constrained people. That is the problem of an organization, it becomes an institution, requiring structures and rules, and people follow them. That's not all bad, Avery Dulles in his work 'Models of the Church', shows how the Church can operate in different ways using different models, one is of course the institutional model which we can liken to the hub of a wheel holding things together, but Dulles reminds us that it also has problems and needs others to balance it out. One of these is the servant model.

In Mark 10: 35-45 we find Jesus teaching his followers that discipleship is not about power but about service, he uses his own ministry as a model for us all; '...the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many". People take Jesus' call to service seriously, wonderful examples of unselfish love can be found wherever we look after others or our world.

But there is something more asked of us, particularly those who have some standing in the community. It is not enough to just serve says Jesus, we need to live it, make that servant model part of our everyday life, especially in our attitude towards others. That's part of the cross we carry, Jesus even goes so far as to suggest that we make ourselves a 'slave' to all.

Is that too much for us? Not really, for being a slave in this sense, means identifying with the very least in life, having compassion for the needy, praying that the Lord's love really be upon us each day!

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Great Britain.

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