Fifty years ago, Br. Luke promised stability, obedience, and conversion to Fr. Timothy, who was abbot at the time. Today, Br. Luke renewed those promises to Fr. Elias. Through these fifty years, Br. Luke has served God and the community of Gethsemani faithfully. He has served in many capacities, but perhaps most notably as choir director and organist for the past nearly 20 years. He has also enriched the community with many lovely hymn melodies, responsories, and mass settings. Fr. Elias presented Br. Luke with a staff signifying his many years of dedication to the monastic life. Br. Luke was joined by a large group of family and friends who celebrated the occasion with him. And of course the community celebrates with him as well, in gratitude for his presence among us.
Fr. Elias gave an exhortation to Br. Luke based on the readings of the day which deserves to be quoted in full:
The gospel we just heard is thought-provoking for an occasion like this one. Jesus asks a question and then leaves it open in an uncomfortable way: “Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?” Jesus seems to be raising the question: Is God grateful to us?
To even begin to answer such a question, you first have to give some thought to how you situate yourself before God.
Do I expect God to reward me for my efforts? Is there an unspoken deal between us? Can I count on God to be on my side when I feel tired, taken for granted, or unappreciated? Perhaps what Jesus is getting at is that we do not honor God with those kinds of expectations.
At first, the attitude he recommends sounds austere: “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” What Jesus is proposing is a greatness of soul that is hard to grasp at first—a greatness of soul that may require a lifetime to develop.
Today’s ceremony can be a lesson in what Jesus is trying to teach us. After fifty years of living under the vows, there is not a single word of thanks. The rite takes you, Br. Luke, and all of us back to the beginning, to the first words of a postulant asking for the habit: What do you seek? The mercy of God . . . . Instead of being offered congratulations for those long years, the jubilarian is asked to renew his promises. And the prayers that are said don’t look back; they have to do with persevering into the future.
If this seems like a stark way of acknowledging fifty years of life and service in the community, it is because we are looking at the scenario from the outside. From within, from the perspective of the greatness of soul Jesus has shown us, the only reward sought is the honor of serving.
I recall observing a very old monk in one of our communities, who day after day went to great lengths to bake something for the brothers. He could barely walk; no one was asking him to go to such trouble. But he was serene and content; this was not someone trying to deny the limitations of his age or to carry on with sheer determination. When I complimented him on his baking and expressed my surprise that he was still able to do it, he gave me a glimpse of what motivated him. First, he said, he would look at the distance between his room and the kitchen and thank God he could manage to get there. Then he thanked God that he had an idea of what to make. And if he had the energy to carry it out, he thanked God for that too, and so on. He didn’t see his work as an obligation or a service; what fueled him was gratitude. He wasn’t looking for thanks from the brothers: what he was doing was an act of thanks.
Perhaps here we can begin to see what Jesus was getting at. There is a greatness of soul that requires no other motivation than the gratitude welling up from inside. And perhaps that inner wellspring is, in fact, God’s gratitude.
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