Practical Guidelines for Ministry 

Serve the Servers 

2Kings 4: 8-16 is a preview of what Jesus will say in the Gospel: “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.” The woman who gave hospitality to Elisha was rewarded with the gift of a child. Later, the child died, and then Elisha came again and did something we see today as an image of Jesus uniting us to himself on the cross to restore our life (compare this to the 2nd reading): 

When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed… he got up on the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. 

Whenever anyone ministers to us, we should recognize, not just a prophet but the crucified and risen Jesus ministering. And we should respond with gratitude appropriate to this mystery. In every kindness shown us, we recognize the kindness of God: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” 

Life through death 

Romans 6: 3-11 teaches us the central mystery of our redemption. We live in Christ because through Baptism we died in Christ on the cross. We share in Christ’s divinity because he united our humanity to his on the cross and took us down to the grave with him in death so that he might raise us up with himself in his resurrection. 

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. 

This is why we are redeemed. It is why our sins are not just forgiven, but taken away. Mere forgiveness does not change what we are. Forgiven or not, I am still the person who did whatever I did. But the mystery of our redemption is that as “Lamb of God”—sacrificed for us and uniting us to himself in the sacrifice—Jesus takes away the sins of the world. All who have been incorporated into his body by Baptism were “in him” when he died on the cross; died in him and then rose purified in him without any record of sin. Paul says, “For a dead person has been absolved from sin” (Romans 6:7). The one who sinned died. The one who lives now in Christ is a “new creation” living a new life, without any record or history of sin (2Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). This gives us a new self-image: 

Christ died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Consequently, you must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. 

It is contrary to our faith to carry around the burden of past sins. Those sins were annihilated in the death of Christ. They no longer exist. This makes joy a profession of faith for us: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” 

A mystery of identity: 

Matthew 10: 37-42 proclaims our identification with the risen Jesus. As St. Augustine taught, speaking to the baptized, “We have become not only Christians, but Christ. Marvel and rejoice, for we have become Christ!”(quoted by John Paul II in The Splendor of Truth, no. 21). The words of Jesus are: “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Whether we minister or are ministered to, it is the same mystery of Jesus giving and receiving in the members of his risen body on earth. Carrying this mystery into the “end times,” St. Augustine teaches that in heaven, “there will be but one Christ, loving himself.” It begins on Earth. 

Then Jesus gets specific and says that if we recognize and serve prophets because they are prophets, we will receive “a prophet’s reward.” If we welcome and serve righteous people because they are righteous, we will receive “a righteous person’s reward.” He may just be giving examples for emphasis, but he also may be establishing a principle, which is that the benefit we receive from interacting with anyone will depend on how much we recognize the truth of that person’s identity. If we serve our fellow human beings as humans, we will enter more deeply into our own humanity. But if we recognize and serve them as Christ, we will enter more deeply into the life of grace we have as Christians. 

Christian ministry is humanitarian, but never just humanitarian. It is the lived experience of being Christ to others, recognizing Christ in others, serving Christ, and being served by Christ in others. 

That is why ministry has to be nourished by “word and sacrament.” Ministers, to be authentic, must constantly seek a deeper union of mind, will, and heart with Jesus Christ by doing those things that let the life of grace expand within us. Ministers are not pipelines but fountains: to bring light and love to others, we ourselves must be filled with light and love. In ministry, we don’t just transmit; we share.  

Jesus did not choose people who were particularly bright, educated, or virtuous to be his co-workers. But before he sent them out as ministers, they did have to become his disciples; that is, his students. Jesus can and will use anyone to give life to the world, but that person first has to accept life from Jesus. “We cannot give what we do not have.” 

That is why the death of Christ into which we were baptized in order to live in Christ must continue in us as a constant “dying to self” to live for God and others in love. “While we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh” (2Corinthians 4:11).  

Today’s Responsorial Psalm (#89) is “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”  

Prayer Prompt: What are my feelings toward those who minister in the Church (both clergy and lay)? How do I perceive people who minister? How do I respond to them? Do I recognize the mystery of Christ in them?  Attitude and assumption test: When you read “minister in the Church,” did I think only of those who minister in the church? Or did I think of all in the Church who minister, whether through parish ministries or not? What can I do that will make me more able to minister as Christ? 

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #97, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.