“Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” It can be hard to sum up the mission of an entire university in a single action, but when pressed, I offer this. If you can look at another student and see the face of Christ in him or her, then Jesuit education is surely doing its job. Sometimes we do not get our way. Sometimes we must yield to the needs of others. When we do so, we do it not just out of love, but out of reverence for Christ, as today’s first reading invites us.
Can subordination possibly be an invitation for you, today, to seek Christ in a relationship? Might a softer approach be just enough to allow Christ’s presence to be more surely felt? Can you look at a spouse, partner, brother, sister, classmate, colleague, employee, or friend as you might Christ?
—Patrick Hyland, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic of the Chicago-Detroit province, is currently studying philosophy at St. Louis University.