Word to the Wise
Monday, March 2, 2020 - 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......Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me." {Matthew]
I think of all the parables of Jesus, the one about the Final Judgment, quoted above from today's gospel passage, is the one I mention most often in these reflections. What is clear from these words is that love of God and love of neighbor are two sides of the same coin. A Christian cannot have one without the other. The First Letter of John states this truth more baldly: "Whoever claims to love God, whom he cannot see and hates his brother or sister whom he can see is a liar!" [1 John 4:20].
At the university parish where I live there is a conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. I am inspired by the efforts they bring to reach all those whom Jesus mentions in the parable. They are not alone. The Catholic Charities office of the Diocese of Lubbock also does this kind of ministry. But we cannot leave it all to these, as if we have delegated all our Christian duties to them. Jesus makes it plain that there will be an accounting for the way in which we have treated him in the person of our neighbor, especially our neighbor who is hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick and imprisoned. Each of us is called by virtue of our baptism to respond according to our circumstances to the needs that Jesus speaks about. This cannot be only a Lenten thing, important as those little cardboard "rice bowls" are. It has to be a year round thing. Lent comes as a reminder, and Jesus' words in today's gospel are quite clear. If we call ourselves Christian individually or collectively, we are called to serve and love our neighbors in the person of the poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned or newly-arrived, because they are Christ himself. AMEN