Word to the Wise
Monday, February 18, 2013 - 1st Week of Lent - Mon
[Lev 19:1-2, 11-18 and Matt 25:31-46]'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me in prison and you visited me.' ......'Whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
If one is looking for a way to observe Lent that could have a lasting effect - i.e. continue after Lent - the list from Matthew 25 is a good place to start! Pope Paul VI, in his first encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam, declared that one of the forms of "real presence" is the face of Christ in the poor. What Matthew 25 makes clear is that every member of the Body of Christ is worthy of our love and attention. Notice that the list does not mention "words" but actions! I admit that I find it difficult to read because I know I have missed many opportunities, and I recall vividly seeing Michelangelo's famous fresco on the wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican which depicts the horror of the siinner under judgment for failing to recognize Christ in the "least ones."
Food banks, clothing banks, soup kitchens, shelters......there are many ways we can be involved in direct work with those less fortunate. They are not ALL the Body of Christ, but their voices can be easily drowned out by the consumerist culture we live in. If we cannot hear their voice, we may not be hearing the voice of Christ! That could be a terrible "deafness." If our "giving up" something does not result in a "giving to" the person of Christ, what kind of Lent have we observed? AMEN