Embrace the power of little things and you will build a tower of mighty things

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. – Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997: Founded the Missionaries of Charity)

Gospel Text: (JN 13:16-20)
When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
I am not speaking of all of you.
I know those whom I have chosen.
But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.
From now on I am telling you before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send
receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

There is a great paradox in our faith. We are, at one and the same time, so little and so great.

Picture a one-celled amoeba trying to get the attention of a human person. A typical human being has about 32 trillion cells. Why would a human being pay any attention to a infinitesimally small one-celled amoeba?

God is infinite, the Creator of a universe with a hundred billion galaxies, a universe that is billions of years old. Why would he pay any attention to an infinitesimally small human person living for a little time on a little planet in a little galaxy in this gigantic universe?

We who are infinitesimally small are made great through baptism. We, like John the Baptist, are not worthy to unfasten Jesus’ sandals. Yet Jesus says “he who accepts anyone I send accepts me, and in accepting me and the one who sent me.” (John 13:20) By grace we are identified as belonging to Christ.

That is why we have confidence when we pray. By ourselves we are nothing. Why would God pay any attention to us? But as members of the body of Christ through baptism, our prayers are with Christ and through Christ. And the Father always hears the prayers of the Son. (Cf. John 11:42)

Through the waters of baptism we are transformed from littleness to greatness. So very great, and yet willing to stoop down and wash feet, that is serve, because that’s what Jesus did.