Service: A Bedrock Value

Service is a Bedrock Value and a Pillar of the Family, Government, Church, Business
and the Internet

In these days when many struggle to get to the top, they forget one important
thing that actualizes the commandment of Christ to love God and our fellowman as
ourselves - and that is through acts of service. Love shows itself more in actions
and gestures of service rather than in words. This service emphasis is also given
much weight by St. Ignatius of Loyola when he founded the Jesuit Order. And when
we also look to the other institutions of our society: the family, government,
business, and the internet - the underlying foundation and still one bedrock value
that undergirds all of them is the principle and ethic of service.

Service to the Family
Service to the family is truly paramount and important. The Catholic maxim that
says "charity begins at home" is really true. If this wisdom of charity through
acts of service is ignored and not given actual life, then the family is sure to
buckle under and everyone within it will be flown off into totally different
directions. And what is saddening about this event is that the original spirit
of service in which the family is founded upon dies and along with it--the bonds
and ties of charity that held the family together in spirit and in philosophy. So
to ensure that the family is well-grounded in the service ideal, it is important
that the family realize its origin in God who showed us how to love and serve by
sacrificing His very Son on the Cross so that we may be saved from our sinfulness
and from the darkness of selfishness we have mired ourselves. So, God as Savior
is an important truth to believe and to base our actions from in the family.

Service in the Government
When government officials and those in positions of power forget that the power
they hold does not really derive from themselves but really comes from a divine
authority, then for sure their power will be corrupted and influenced by the evil
that lives in the world. However, if they realize that service is the reason why
they have received such authority and power, then for sure their leadership will
be truly noble and heroic. In fact, such leadership goes into the books of history
because those who place service as an ideal in their exercise of power and authority
in politics make themselves servants of God and service-oriented leaders of the
people. In such a service-oriented leader, the giving of one's life for the good
of the nation will surely go into the annals of time. This ideal of service in
leadership is so very vital to a government leader because by this virtue and ideal
his goal would truly be the good of the other, the good of the troops, the good
of the people, the good of the nation, and so forth. And what is truly inspiring
to many is when they see their government leader make acts of service without
expecting anything in return. Such a leader will create a nation that serves the
cause of good, serves the cause of peace, of righteousness, of universal harmony
and unity. Thus, this little word called service must not be undervalued. Some-
times just a multiplication of a simple, generous, and charitable act of service
is enough to create a civilization of love and service - a civilization which we
truly need for our time now.

Service in the Church
When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His apostles, He did one very prophetic
and truly noble act: He washed the feet of His apostles! He told them: "As I wash
your feet, you should also wash one another's feet". Jesus' commandment of love
has found its actual form in acts of service to others. So, as Catholics, we too
must wash each other's feet - meaning we are to be of service to one another. We
should not anymore wait for each one to start the action. We ourselves must lead
in the service of our brothers and sisters in the Church. But let us not make this
service orientation of ours limited to people only who share our Catholic faith.
We would make a greater and more positive impact if we do such acts of service and
make gestures of our readiness to serve, to all people, regardless of what their
faith is. When they feel that the spirit of our service is the spirit of service which
Christ Himself taught us, then we have won their faith not by word but by genuine
and authentic acts of service.

Service in the Internet
When the Internet started, many of the things that are in the Web are given for
free. The Internet was a world full of free service and people communicated well
with one another. However, when some entities started to engage in businesses that
focused too much on money rather than on service, then these businesses have made
the Internet corrupted to the point that it is not anymore as safe now to be in the
Internet as it was before. So many viruses, so many hackers, so many spies, and
much more evil is proliferated over the medium because people have forgotten this
ideal of service. But all is not lost. And the Internet has still sectors that provide
genuine service and authentic products that indeed provide the service it
promises to give.

This does not mean however that we do not work for a profit or do business on the
Internet. It only means that we should never forget this very bedrock value of
service. For in service, when we aim for the good of the customer or the client,
the good that we do comes back to us and it could come back to us either in the
form of direct profit or a connection that will give us greater quality business.

So, never let service out of your vocabulary. When in your household, let
service be your guide. As you ply the routes of your state, be of service to your
government by following their laws. And as a member of the Catholic Church, be of
service to anyone who may not belong to our Church. This goes for your workplace
or the business that you own. Let the service ideal be in all the decisions you
make. When we do make service our ideal, then the Christian civilization and the
Catholic traditions which have made our nations the good nations that they are,
will never die. In fact, we may not only preserve them but we can even propagate
them and make them grow in such a way as to make the Catholic faith truly a global
faith and not only the faith of North America and Europe.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
January 2, 2005

---

Catholic Internet Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel Online