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 these 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."
Dawg's Thought:
Today's prayer intention - for wisdom and fortitude.
Have you ever talked yourself out of doing something because you were too tired? Have you ever withheld offering a gift because you leery of the result of your act? Have you ever ignored someone because you feel like you did not have anything to offer?
Loving is a difficult thing.
Yet, if we are more concerned about what a person will do with the money we give them versus being concerned about the person, then we miss out on an opportunity to love as Christ loves us. Even more, if we truly have faith that all that Christ teaches us is Truth, then what we truly miss out on Christ.
Loving is a difficult thing.
It is a complete mystery on how the poor or the imprisoned or the sick can be the Person of Christ. Then again, it is a complete mystery on how mere bread and wine can turn into Christ's Body and Blood. Yet, we know both to be Truth.
Somehow, though, it seems that by serving Him in the poor and the imprisoned and the naked and the sick, we ourselves become One with Christ as participants in His mission. After all, He became man for the sake of our poverty and sickness and imprisonment and nakedness. If this is the case, then are are offering our own money or our own time, or are we simply giving back the treasure that belonged to Christ?
If this is the case, then does this knowledge give us the freedom to serve and offer what we have? When we love, aren't we making a gift of ourselves? When we love the poor, aren't we making ourselves a gift back to Our God Who made Himself a Gift on the cross?
Lord, give us the fortitude
to encounter You in the poor,
as an act of love to You,
Who are all good and deserving of all my love.
Take care and God Bless.
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