Jesus said to the Apostles:

“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

A young Jesuit was planning his first all-school Mass in a new high school. He carefully selected readings, recruited participants, and designed a beautiful worship aid. Everything was ready.

The night before the service, he realized in a panic that he had failed to make plans for where people would sit! He rushed to the school gym early the next morning, where he was amazed to find the stage set up and chairs mysteriously arranged in neat rows.

After Mass, the Jesuit found the custodian responsible for the setup. He thanked him profusely for making the Mass possible, but the custodian brushed aside his complements and simply replied, “Just part of the gig!”

That’s the wisdom to which Jesus invites us. Rather than seeking recognition or needing to be in charge, we are all invited to do our little part to build up the Kingdom. And when we are done, may we too recognize how essential yet simple our role was – just part of the gig.

—Brian Martindale, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province serving as a campus minister and math teacher at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School – Twin Cities.

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
 No prayer fully expresses our faith.
 No confession brings perfection.
 No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
 No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
 No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
 We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
 We lay foundations that will need further development.
 We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
 This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
 It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
 We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

—Known as the Romero Prayer, written by then-Fr. Ken Untener and first presented by Cardinal Dearden