November 26^th 2017. Feast of Christ the King

GOSPEL: Matthew 25,31-46

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him. 
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 
Then the king will say to those on his right,
'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.'
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink? 
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you? 
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
And the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Then he will say to those on his left,
'Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
Then they will answer and say,
'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?'
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.'
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . This Sunday – the Feast of Christ the King - marks the end of the liturgical year and it is an opportunity for us to think about the end of all things, the eternal significance of every single thing we do. Jesus’ parable shows that he is the centre of history. The meaning of every event in our lives is to be evaluated in relation to him. More specifically, it is to be evaluated in relation to how much love – or lack of love – we show in every action of our lives. Every action, whether we like it or not, is directed either for or against Jesus. It is either an act of love, or an act that constitutes a failure to love. We might think that our lives are small, miserable and inconsequential, but this parable shows that every single action we do has eternal meaning! When my life is over, what matters is whether I have shown love to others, whether I have welcomed others, nourished them, visited them when they were lonely, covered their nakedness, accepted them in their alienation. How many times have I myself been visited in the isolation in which I have enclosed myself, comforted in my sorrow and nourished in my poverty! This Sunday, let us reflect on the significance and gravity of everything we do!

The parable told by Jesus shows that he is the centre of history and of life, and that all of our actions in life, whether we realize it or not, are actions done to him.

This Sunday we mark the end of the liturgical year and we contemplate Christ, King of the universe, King of history and the centre of all things. The Gospel this week presents Jesus as the judge and the parameter by which all things are to be interpreted. What does it mean to accept Jesus as the parameter by which to interpret history? In the parable, all the people are divided to the right and left of Christ. Some inherit the Kingdom and others are driven away. In this account we discover that the Lord Jesus is the sole criterion by which our eternal destiny is to be decided. It is no harm, in the first instance, to reflect on the fact that we do have an eternal destiny, that are lives are not as banal as we might sometimes think, and that we are called to something of everlasting significance. A true understanding of ourselves appreciates that there is something definitive about our lives and our actions. The things we do have eternal consequences. Some people might think that it would be great if all of us were granted the same reward at the end regardless of what we have done, but this would trivialize the reality of good and evil. If I do good things, does it really have no significance? If I persecute people, make them suffer and compound their misery, is it really of no consequence? Someone commented once that at the end of time it will not be God who will demand justice from humanity, but humanity who will cry out for justice to God. How can we forget the occasion when John Paul II forcefully confronted the mafia at Agrigento in Sicily? He told them that there would be a day of reckoning and that they should never forget that fact. Our lives are not lived in vain; there is something definitive in the things that we do! Indeed, it can be a cause of anguish when we consider that there is something irreversible about life. The things that we have done are objective. They are not simply inconsequential.

Love is the criterion with which our lives will be evaluated. Every single act that I do today has eternal significance. It is either a “Yes” to love or a “No” to love. It is a moment that cannot be reversed and that has permanent meaning

What is the parameter by which are lives are to be evaluated? It is love. When confronted with this criterion, many things seem very small and silly. On the basis of this criterion, every single day takes on a significance that goes beyond itself. This Sunday – the end of the liturgical year – we reflect on the end of all things. This prompts us to remember, as St Ignatius of Loyola did, that there will be a reckoning for all the things that we have done. If I was on the point of death and had the time to think, if the Lord conceded to me the grace to reflect on my life and ask for pardon, what would I ask myself? I would ask if I had truly loved others, if anyone had become happy on account of me, if anyone had been clothed by me, if anyone had their thirst quenched by me, if any lonely person had been visited by me when they were closed in a prison, if anyone had been welcomed by me, shown mercy, had their poverty diminished, had their alienation lessened, had been welcomed tenderly as a pilgrim. I have been a pilgrim myself a thousand times, after all, in need of acceptance. I have suffered hunger many times and needed someone to nourish me. I have been shielded by the patience of another, have been visited  by the sacrifice of others. The Lord Jesus says, “Every time you have done these things to someone else, you have done them to me.” We cannot separate our acts from their eternal dimension. When we do something good to another person, there is something permanent in that which we are doing. “Every time you have failed to do these things to these little ones, you have failed to do them to me”. Unfortunately there is also something eternal in our “No” to love. How many times have we stubbornly said, “He deserves his fate, he deserves his imprisonment, his bad fortune”, and we have forgotten that each one of us has been liberated from prison, that each one of us has needed to be looked upon with tenderness when we were locked up inside the delusions of our own making.

Our lives might appear small and insignificant, but every single act of our has eternal significance

This is a fantastic Sunday for reflection and an opportunity to centre everything upon love. All things are to be measured, evaluated, considered from the point of view of their eternal significance. This small and miserable life that we appear to be leading is instead an eternal adventure. It is a life that has permanent and definitive consequences. Every single act has within it an opening onto eternity. Every act is far more significant than we can ever imagine.