Father Eric de la Pena: “What I have, I give you” (Acts 3:6)
I am always moved when I see so many of our young men and women at CUA demonstrate their desire to give back by volunteering. This past weekend, as the nation commemorated the sad events of 9/11, our CUA community responded with a positive spirit. Instead of giving in to despair, we brought hope; instead of darkness, light. It has been a tradition now at Campus Ministry that on this weekend, our students honor the memory of those who perished by doing a wide array of services to the community. The list of activities include: weed removal and trash pick-up at the Rock Creek Conservancy, trash removal from the Anacostia River in Hyattsville, clean-up of the National Mall and Memorial Parks as well the Kenilworth Park in Anacostia, and working in the CUA Community Garden.
Father Eric de la Pena
Since the Holy Father is also scheduled to arrive here shortly, the volunteers found another motivation to generously serve the community. This year’s day of service was named “Serve with Francis Day.” It is indeed a fitting gift to the Holy Father who has the noble title of Servus servorum Dei, that is, the “Servant of the Servants of God.” This designation is certainly more than just a nice appellation added to the already long list of honorific titles given to the pope. It truly denotes his position in the Church – that is that the Pope is here to serve all of God’s people. He is to live the words of Christ in the Gospel, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:26–28).
Pope Francis has certainly taken the role of serving God’s people to heart very seriously. As “the slave,” he prefers not to live in the luxurious Apostolic Palace but at the modest Santa Marta Guest House of the Vatican where he can dine with the rest of the Vatican employees and visitors. This pope’s Holy Thursday foot washing service is not just a symbolic gesture. Pope Francis has truly sought out the lost and outcast. This year he washed the feet of prisoners in Rome’s Rebibbia prison. Last year he washed the feed of the elderly and disabled at a rehabilitation facility. In 2013 he washed the feet of twelve young people at juvenile detention center.
Pope Francis also has a reputation of making surprise personal calls to troubled folks who could use his fatherly advice – like the one he made to a pregnant unwed mother in Italy and another one in Spain to a struggling homosexual. The stories of Pope Francis placing himself at the feet of God’s people goes on and on.
As we get closer to meeting the Pope next week, let us pay close attention not only to his words, but to his great example as well. If there’s anything constant in his message, it is his call to exercise mercy and compassion. Our world needs to halt its self-destructive path fueled by self-centeredness and lack of concern before it is too late. Pope Francis challenges us now to have that kind of magnanimity of heart which can say with St. Peter, “What I have, I give you.”
— Father Eric de la Pena, O.F.M. Conv., is an associate chaplain for faith development at The Catholic University of America.
