Lent - Day Six - Sheep and Goats

Gospel
Matthew 25:31-46 ©

I was naked and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

  ‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

  ‘Next, he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

  ‘And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.

I awoke on Sunday after a night where my bed had a tendency to spin merrily as I lay upon it as the vino projected its effects and wound me up for the morning's hangover.  The coffee pot was my savior that morning.  Everyone was around the fire which was burning low and the Master was enjoying a breakfast of figs and grapes. I sat down after claiming coffee and a hunk of bread, this was the most that my body would be able to accept.  A wise man once said, "The man drinks the first wineskin and the second, but the third, the wineskin drinks the man."   I felt that I was living proof of that wisdom. 

A man wandered into our camp.  He was dirty and disheveled and it was apparent that bathing was not his habit.  His eyes held the look of madness and I could not imagine how he had come here in this oasis in the middle of the desert.   I felt a tug at my heartstring for the man who was looking longingly at the great amount of food that was on display. My companions took no notice of the man, it is as if he were invisible to them.  They kept their eyes on the Master and tended to His every want.  I noticed that the man hand no sandals and his tunic was worn to a frazzle.  No one in the camp paid him any attention.   I got up and went to my collection of belongings.  I took out a pair of new sandals, a tunic, one of my best, and I approached the stranger and presented them to him and asked him to please accept them as a gift  He looked at me and tears formed in his eyes.  He said that this was the first kindness he had experienced in a long, long time.  I took his hand and set him in my place and gave him some of the dates and figs, and bread along with a large cup of water which had just been drawn from the well and was ice cold and he ate and drank and I was pleased to see him become more human as the food gave him energy and new clothing gave him dignity.  I bent down to ask if I could get him more food or drink and when he turned and looked at me,  I saw that it was the Master's face. 

Ordinary and yet Extraordinary

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.

They were ordinary men. You could say that in a way that they were just like you and me.  Arising each morning, each of them began their day full of hope and they dressed, ate a bit of breakfast and went to work. They put in a full day, went home, rested, went to sleep and the next day they did it all over again.  Yes, you could say that they are just like you and me.  One day, one glorious day, everything changed.  They were called by this man that they had heard about called Jesus. He was known to be a great teacher, afraid of neither Pharisee, Sadducee, or the Pagan Romans.  They left everything behind and they began to follow Him.  They saw many wonders and speculated between themselves who this Jesus was.  It was Peter, the first one called to be a fisher of men that first acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God.  It was Peter on whom Jesus placed the mantle of leadership, and it was Peter who when given the chance saved himself and denied his Lord, but later repented and was received back by Jesus.  Yes, these men are a microcosm of all of the eventual followers of the Lord because He chose not the strong and the wise, he chose the incredibly average.  He also included among that number one that in the end betrayed Him to the authorities, making it possible for them to rather quietly dispose of an inconvenient messiah. 

Remember this fellow Catholics, from the Pope on down, we are ordinary people, all members of the Church that Christ built on the Rock of Peter. This Church is built with Christ as the cornerstone. The founder and His teachings hold the whole thing together as we await the moment of His return to claim His bride again. Our Church was not the invention of a mere man but rather it was the will of the Father, the work of the Son, and the constant protection of the Holy Spirit that gave her birth, sustained her through good and bad and that will keep her safe until the wonderful day when Jesus returns.

It is not through any action on our part that the Church is holy.  It is because of who the founder is, Jesus, and who sustains His Church in error free teaching, the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

Ambition

Ambition can be a good thing. It can make the difference between being a drifter with a backpack and a person with a corner office and a decent job. Of course there can be ambitions that are not good for us to have. For example, the ruler of a country looks to expand his borders at the expense of his neighbor. 

For us Christians, we should have the ambition of doing what Jesus commanded us to do.  His command is simple, love one another as I have loved you. This command is a game changer and takes what it means to be a Christian to a whole higher level than any other religion the world has ever known. 

We are given many examples of what we should be doing by Jesus himself. Let's examine just a few of them: 

Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, always present in Heaven at the right hand of God the Father.  Jesus came to earth, humbling himself to take on the form of the creature he created.  This shows that he is most humble and most loving.  

Jesus obeyed his parents, the Bible first tells us this after he was found conversing with the doctors in the temple he went with them and was subject to them.  Also, at the request of his mother he started his public life early when he provided wine at a wedding. 

Jesus was content to work at a humble job during the years leading up to his public ministry. Jesus created the world yet he worked for his bread at the job of his earthly father, a carpenter. 

Jesus in all things conformed his will to the will of his Father. As a human in all things but sin, Jesus was tempted but he set his will aside and followed the will of the Father.  This led to the Cross and to death and the redeeming of all of us.

Jesus at the Last Supper showed us what we were to do. He, the God who created the universe took basin and towel and took on the role of the lowest servant in the household and washed the feet of his apostles. 

Jesus humbly accepted death on the cross. In the garden we see Jesus making the most human of prayers, one that each of us would have made and probably do make during the hard times of our life. "Father, take this cup away from me."  This is where most of us would stop. He added, "but not my will but yours."

So our ambition as Christians should be like our Master. We should be ready and willing to serve, to put our needs behind the needs of others.  It is this selfless giving that will attract people to give up their pagan ways and come home to God.  Jesus himself said that they would know his followers by the love that they showed. 

This week I am going to try and do at least one good turn to another in secret and thus try to be like my Lord and Savior and try to love others as He has loved us keeping ever in mind that he did not spare himself from the cross. 

Mother Teresa saw a man in the street  dirty, with sores, flies all about him. People were just passing him by. She immediately went to him and cradled him and began to pick the maggots off of his soars.  A man passing by said, "I wouldn't do that for a million dollars!"  Mother answered, "Neither would I."