Service and Its Spiritual Impact
1. Service is a calling for all
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III emphasizes that service is not limited to Sunday School servants, but is a general principle for every human being: adults, children, married, and unmarried. Whoever knows to do good and does not do it commits a sin.
2. Service is an expression of love
A spiritual person does not live for himself alone, but works for others. Everyone he meets can be a field for doing good, as love moves within the heart and becomes practical service.
3. The model of the “helpful person”
His Holiness presents the model of a person who carries the spirit of service in his home, workplace, street, and church. Service flows in his blood because he loves people and cares for their comfort without waiting for a formal position or a special call.
4. Many and diverse forms of service
Service is not only preaching or teaching; it includes serving the poor, the sick, the disabled, the blind, the elderly, prisoners, the estranged, reconciling families, visiting hospitals, supporting the needy, material contributions, social service, preparing spiritual stories… etc. The essential thing is the spirit of giving.
5. Service offers many spiritual blessings
Service is a blessing before it is giving. It provides spiritual experience through seeing God’s hand working, increases love, grants endurance, satisfies emotional needs, leads to a holy life, opens doors of grace, and wins people’s love and prayers.
6. Service is a relationship with God
In service, a person shares in God’s work, experiencing the power of prayer, divine wisdom, guidance, and God’s intervention in problems. The servant touches the work of grace and sees how God acts in details.
7. The fruit of service
The fruit is the good you leave in the lives of others: a word of comfort, help, a smile, a visit, solving a problem, rescuing someone in need… When the servant returns home feeling he gave good, he feels spiritual satisfaction.
8. A call for practical application
His Holiness invites everyone to pray before leaving home: “Lord, use me to do good today.” Service begins in the family, then extends to friends and neighbors, becoming a lifestyle that spreads goodness as Christ “went about doing good.”
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