Dear Saints,

In our great literary tradition, it was Lucifer’s radically defiant cry - “Non Serviam!” (“I will not serve!”) - that sealed his fate. It was literally the most anti-Christ thing he could have said – no wonder there was hell to pay for it.

Jesus makes very clear in today’s Gospel that service is his whole reason for being. Talk about radical! Has there ever been a kingdom or world economy in which servants were not second-class citizens? When you really drill down on his intentions, it stretches the limits of the human imagination, not to mention the human heart.

Every day, multiple times a day, we’re presented with the same choice. We don’t tend to think of it like this, but either way it’s a rebellion. The only question is against whom. We can rebel against God and insist on our own self-absorbed designs. We know how that story ends: from Milton to Joyce, it’s been told time and time again. Or we can rebel against our selfishness and surrender our lives to God for his plans and purposes. We know how that story ends too: it’s written on the heart of every obedient Saint who vows to bring heaven wherever hell seeks to reign.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ