Taking part

"'Woman, what have you to do with me. My hour has not yet come.' He has now no other life than what he calls "my hour," referring to his appointed mission. There is no way to be part, to have part, except to take part in his "hour." There is no independent connection with Jesus, no connection apart from that mission, not even the connection of a mother with her son." Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

"Unless I wash you, you have no place in me." Jesus conveys the same message to St. Peter the night before he dies for us. "As I have done for you, so you must also do." Our serving Jesus in others is how we take part in this mission, this hour. Such service can feel like laying down our lives sometimes, even when it is for people we love deeply. Sometimes mostly for them, and this is when we know the depth of our love. When we connect this service to Jesus' mission, to our mission as his body on earth, we find ourselves living out our part in him, and drawing nearer to him than we have ever known.