Daily Bible Reflections

November 8, 2011
MEET LALING, A SERVANT


“We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” – Luke 17: 10


We treat our maids like they were members of our family. We always ask them to join us at table during meal time. But one time, we had Laling (not her real name). She would not join us during meal times. She said she would eat after we finished eating.

We were not comfortable about that. My husband, particularly, thinks it’s unethical to serve leftover food to anyone. So, we had a better arrangement: Laling ate ahead of us.

As I reflect on today’s Gospel, I surmise there are different meanings of the word servant. Laling might have belonged to that generation who thought maids should be, well, slaves — meant to do whatever their masters commanded them to do.

In my prayer community, we work in various ministries and call ourselves servants. But we are not like our household helpers who work because they need the salary. What we need is to express our love for God, and how do we do this? We take the position of servants ready to do what God, Our Master, wants us to do. After all, rather than be a Master, He said He came to serve us. Yes, after all, He is our Head Servant. Cynthia Santiago (boses2go@gmail.com)

REFLECTION:

Who do you serve?

Lord, purify my motives in working for You.