Love is Service

When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again, he went back to the table. "Do you understand", he said, "what I have done to you?"

We know quite well what Jesus was saying, but somehow, we forget. He was showing us that loving is inseparable from service, and that we must not stand on our dignity but must humble ourselves and do menial, earthly, bodily tasks for our brothers and sisters. To put it bluntly, he was saying that we must feed the hungry and clothe the naked - and not only that: we must clear the drunkard's throat of vomit, and turn him on his side so that he does not choke, and we must clear up the foul excreta of those whose bodies are so ravaged by disease that they cannot care for themselves. By this shall people know we are his disciples, not by veils, or dog collars, cathedrals or statues to the Virgin.(Sheila Cassidy)