When I was in leadership in the Missionary Servants one of my happy chores was to go to celebratory events — ordinations, professions, anniversaries and the like. The expectation was that at the end of the event I would say a few words of gratitude to those who were being feted and to those who organized the celebration. I dreaded doing that because inevitably I would forget to thank someone who had worked to make the event happen. I only hope that knew it was my forgetfulness, not my lack of appreciation. Actually Jesus says in the gospel: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say,‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” In other words, we don’t do what we do for the thanks or for the recognition or for the appreciation but because we are seeking to do the will of God and make this world a little more compassionate, generous and forgiving.
