A bishop wanted to keep in touch with people and get away from the problems and the bureaucracy of running a rather large diocese. So, as often as he could, he would slip away unnoticed, take off his pectoral cross and visit patients in a nursing home and in a hospital. He would introduce himself as Father “John” and bring Communion, hear confessions and anoint the sick. No one really knew who he was. For him, it was a labor of love and, as he put it, ‘the time when I renew the grace of my priesthood.’

Grace and greatness come from serving others. Jesus reminds the disciples that they have all experienced how the Romans would force their authority on the people, using force if necessary. Their greatness was self-proclaimed. But in truth, those who are great put themselves at the service of others, willingly sacrificing whatever they have so that life will be better for someone else.

Our goal is to build the community of the church, to practice our faith, supporting and encouraging one another. In the small, seemingly unnoticed moments of love, of hope, of healing and helping, greatness comes. We hear it in words of thanks, we see it in the faces of those who are fed and clothed and taught and loved. We touch it in the hands of the lonely we visit, or the sorrowing we comfort. Find your way to greatness. It will be the source of your greater grace!

~James Gaffney, © 2009 Karides Lic. to Pilot Bulletins