November 23^rd 2014.  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, 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.’

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

Kieran’s summary . . . In the first reading, the Lord criticizes the leaders of the people for not shepherding his flock. God himself must become the shepherd, seeking out the lost one, bandaging the wounded, rescuing them in times of danger. In the Gospel, we encounter a different message. All of us are called to be shepherds for the needy, and when we care for the needy we are caring for Christ himself. There is no doubt that each one of us is called to take care of others, but sometimes we pursue grand projects and neglect the very people around us that the Lord wishes us to serve! Using simple discernment, all of us can identify the people in our lives that we are called to take care of. What kind of service does Jesus expect of us? Does he want us to exercise philanthropic charity, serving others according to human categories of justice, merit, etc.? No! As the Gospel makes clear, Jesus wants us to refrain from judging people according to merely human principles. If we use human parameters then our service would be much more limited. We would say, “This person is ungrateful and doesn’t deserve my care,” or “This person did great harm to me and I cannot be expected to return evil with good,” or “This life is unviable and it is pointless prolonging it further”. We must cease to think of the other in merely human terms and instead see in them the face of Christ. “As long as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me”. And let us never forget what Jesus has done for me! When I was imprisoned in the slavery and imprisonment of my own making, he released me and showed me what true freedom was like. When I suffered from hidden spiritual illnesses that I was not even aware of, he healed me and taught me how to live a wholesome life. When I hungered for life and truth, he did not leave me without sustenance.

The first reading speaks of the Lord who must become a shepherd for the needy because no one else will do it. The Gospel speaks of us all becomes shepherds for the Lord when we look after the needy

It is interesting to compare the Gospel for Sunday with the first reading. Indeed, one reading turns the perspective of the other on its head! The prophet Ezekiel makes his famous diatribe on behalf of the God of Israel against the leaders who are supposed to shepherd the people. The Lord says that he himself will look after the flock, seeing that no one else would do it. “I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness . . . I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.” The people of Israel have not taken care of their brothers and sisters, so the Lord himself will do it for them. The Gospel, instead, turns this perspective upside down. A shepherd king appears at the end of time and divides the flock into sheep on one side and goats on the other. But what is the principle of discernment that dictates who should go on either side? “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, thirsty and you gave me to drink, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you visited me.” In the first reading it was the Lord himself who took care of the needy because there was a lack of charity among the people, but in the Gospel we see that it is people of a certain sort who are rewarded for taking care of him. The Gospel in fact calls all of us to be pastors, to take care of others.

We are all called to take care of particular people in our lives. Who are they?

Each one of us has someone that we are called to take care of. Sometimes we busy ourselves striving to accomplish great works, but these works are often extraneous to the nitty-gritty of our daily lives. We are called, rather, to be attentive to the particular context in which the Lord has placed us, to the things that he has given us to do. It would be wrong if we became completely taken up with some grand project, whilst neglecting the primary needs of the people that surround us. Using simple discernment we can recognize who the Lord has placed before us in our particular ministry or situation or condition. There cannot be any shadow of a doubt that the Lord has given us someone to take care of. Each one of us is called to the service of others. No woman or man can survive without being in a state of reciprocal service with others. All of us have need to be shepherded and we too need to shepherd others.

Philanthropy is the love of humans according to human parameters. Christian charity is the love of others according to the parameters of Christ, and these parameters go far beyond human categories

It is interesting to see how the Gospel overturns the perspective of the first reading. When we serve others, we are taking care of Christ. Neither the good people nor the bad people in the Gospel recognize this fact. The good say, “When did we see you hungry and feed you?” The bad ones say, “When did we see you hungry and not feed you?” The shepherd king reveals that he was hidden in the needy people that surrounded them; “Every time you did it to the least of these, you did it to me”. This highlights the distinction between simple philanthropy and Christianity. Philanthropy is the love of human beings according to certain principles of justice and solidarity. These principles are all good up to a point. But Christian charity is different insofar as it is a relation with Christ. Philanthropic love of others is limited by the principles on which it is based. It has certain concepts of merit, justice, etc., which remain human parameters. Christian charity goes beyond human parameters because it is based on a relationship with Christ and it finds its model in what Christ has done for us. Justice takes on a different meaning in this perspective. We no longer do charitable acts only for those who deserve it. We do it for those who are completely undeserving and ungrateful because Jesus did exactly that for us. The category of Christian charity includes love for enemies, which is ultra-human as far as philanthropy is concerned. Christian love derives from the Holy Spirit, not from the human spirit. We do not simply strive to do our deeds with great exertion of the will because those deeds are good; we strive to replicate, to participate, in that which has been done for us by Christ. In doing so, we end up loving Him who has loved us so much. It no longer matters whether or not the poor person is deserving of the good deed. That poor person participates in a triangular relationship with me and Christ.

Let us bear in mind the way that Christ has visited me, the way he has healed me from illnesses that I was not even aware that I had, the way he has liberated me from prisons of my own making

When I was imprisoned in my slavery to sin, Christ visited me and freed me; he had endless patience with me; when I was hungry for those profound things that my spirit lacked, he did not leave me without sustenance; when I was afflicted with my interior, invisible illnesses, he took me by the hand and revealed those illnesses to me. He has taught me how to live the healthy life that comes from him. It is from our relationship with Christ that our acts of mercy find their proper point of departure. Otherwise those acts are limited by the parameters of our rationality which are small and mediocre.