THE WORD
Lev 19,1-2.11-18 / Mt 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.
IN OTHER WORDS
Today’s gospel fittingly reminds us about loving God and neighbor as we begin the Lenten season. The eschatological scene where “the Son of man” separates the good and the bad speaks of the final judgment. God will judge us accordingly based on how we live our lives on earth. The Lenten Season is a time for reexamining how we have lived our lives: “Do we love God and our neighbor?” This question hinges around the two greatest commandments that our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us. It is easy to say that we love God and our neighbor but how do we concretely manifest it? Our gospel today tells us the answer: by loving the least of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the hungry, the prisoners, the sick, the marginalized and the ostracized. They are crying for help, attention, care, and most importantly for love. Jesus’ words reverberate until now: “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” Are we capable of loving them? Only if we consider them as our brothers and sisters. The world is increasingly becoming individualistic and insensitive. The only way to change it is to show that we are capable of loving. St. John says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 Jn. 4:20). ”May this season of Lent make us loving persons, especially to the least of our brothers and sisters so that when we approach God at the last judgment we will all be worthy to be among the righteous who are rewarded with eternal life in God’s kingdom.
- Fr. Joey Ruega, SVD | SJCS, Manila
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
