November 23, 2014

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17, 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28; Matthew 25: 31-46
Today’s feast of Christ the King brings us to the last week of the Liturgical calendar. Next week begins the preparation for Christmas with the beginning of the Advent season.
The question has come to me and I’m sure to a lot of people…what I should be getting those special people in my life for Christmas. Why do I give gifts? It is a custom that I learned from my parents. It is a way to realize and give thanks to the many people who have been special to me, who have touched me with love and caring, who assist me in my daily journey to the Lord. This is what it is all about: helping me to realize that my life is a gift and I am to be a gift through the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given me. Am I doing this? Do I realize the importance of this commission and that it is a duty assigned me by the Lord? This is the import of the readings today and they come with an urgency that Christmas giving is a giving that should and must really occupy my daily life. At the end of the day it is good to ask who the important people in my life are. Did I treat them as being special? Who did I interact with today, did I treat them as important people since each person is important to God? Who were the people who just appeared in my life today? Did I avoid them, or respond to them? Was love seen in me?
Fr. Basil Pennington, one of the spiritual masters of our age explains,
“If each day a word of the Lord can truly come alive for us and can form our mind and heart, we will have that mind of Christ.”
One of Fr. Pennington’s beautiful books is Seeking His Mind in which he picks forty passages from the life of Christ and makes each a special meditation from the fruits of his own lectio divina. Today’s passage from Matthew is one of them, I now share this meditation:
“St Benedict of Nursia ends his Rule by asking: ‘What page, what word of the new and old Testaments is not the truest of guides for human life?’ If this is true of every word of life that our Lord Jesus has given us, it is certainly true of these five words: ‘You did it to Me.’
Back in the seventies, there was a popular musical on Broadway called Godspell. With a certain amount of humor, the play enacted the Gospel of St. Matthew. As this particular scene is played out and Jesus speaks the painful words of condemnation, one of the condemned ‘goats’ pop us and says: Lord, if I had known it was You I would have taken you around the corner and bought you a cup of coffee.’
A big if.
Hearing Jesus’ words here, we have little excuse. He makes Himself very clear, drawing out His teaching with a striking portrayal. True, it would have had even more impact on His agrarian audience than on urban Americans today. But still we have no difficulty imagining the scene.
If we took to heart the final words of Jesus as He pronounced His judgment, how different would not our whole life be? ‘You did it to Me.’ If we realized and were constantly conscious that whatever we do to each other, to any human person, we do to Jesus, to the Son of God, to our beloved Savior, how then would we act?
If we realized we are talking to Jesus—even when we are talking to our children, to somebody who is rude to us, to someone who has hurt us, to a subordinate, to the vendor on the corner, to the panhandler—would we say some of the things we say? Or would we speak otherwise?
If we realized that Jesus is in need of clothing, would we leave all those unused or rarely used clothes hanging in our closets? If we knew He is sick, would we put off visiting a sick acquaintance in the hospital? If we knew He is everyone who needs help, would we not perhaps consider giving some of our spare time to prison ministry or to visiting a children’s hospital to hold and comfort a little one who desperately needs more human touch? Would we be more generous in stocking the parish food pantry, find time to lend a hand at the soup kitchen?
If we really realized the impact of these words, ‘You did it to Me,’ would we not consider it a privilege to serve the poor and needy in whatever way we can? If we really loved our Lord, would we not be eager to have this chance to care for Him? It is this realization that drove Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who clearly saw Jesus in each person no matter how wretched the least one was.
Stop for a moment. One after the other, let come before your mind’s eye the face of each person who is an intimate part of your life. As you see each one, let his or her image fade into the face of Christ. It is the Lord. Then let there come to your mind’s eye the face of some of those you have encountered of late: the woman at the checkout counter and the lad doing the bagging, the beggar on the street with his pleading eyes, the person who banged into you as you were trying to leave the elevator or subway. And let each become the Lord. Did we interact with them the way we would really want to, knowing that in responding to them we are responding to our Lord?
‘You did it to Me.’ These five little words can be a true guide for our lives. Living them can transform us. Someday Jesus will say to you and to me: ‘You did it to Me.’ How will we feel then? Which side will we be on at that moment? Will we lamely say: ‘Lord, if I had known . . .?’
The Gospel reading puts the judgment at the end-time in its proper perspective. The ‘King’ judges on the basis of how closely I have modeled my life on the way that Jesus acted. Have I stayed to myself or have I sought out the hungry, thirsty, the stranger and the lost welcoming them, clothing them? The hungry and thirsty encompasses those who are in need of spiritual help, physical help, emotional help, a helping hand, a smiling face, a listening ear and a kind word. It all comes down to me and my living the Gospel of life as Jesus showed me. The way to proceed is from one needy person to the next. How many acts of kindness did I do today? Where did I see God? What did God do for me today? I offer gratitude for all these opportunities to see how much love God has and how much I am loved and how this love is needed.
So I reflect on:

• Based on my life this past week, would I be among the sheep or the goats? What have I done for others without thinking of myself?
  
• When have I been cared for by someone when I was ill, confused or discouraged? How did I feel toward the one who cared for me?
  
• If Christ became pastor of my parish, what would be the first thing He would do?
  

Sacred Space 2014 adds:

“This dramatic story calls me to conversion to my sisters and brothers who are in need. With Jesus, I look at my life. Do I put myself out for others and share what I can?

Jesus identifies with the needy. Everyone I meet is a sister or brother for whom Christ died, as St. Paul says. I may not be able to do much for others, but I can show them the respect and dignity that they need most of all.”