Running to meet Christ This week marks the solemn liturgical feast of Christ the King. As occurs so often with our faith, our belief in Christ teaches us to expect the opposite of what the world expects. When we hear that Christ is “King,” our mind might conjure up images of wealth and grandeur, a man in fine clothing, with no needs whatsoever, living elegantly and isolated from the struggling “common folk.”
But that is not the kind of King that Christ is. He comes to us in what the saints call the “distressing disguise” of poverty, illness, nakedness, incarceration, alien status, and the defeated attitude common to those who are shunned by society. What’s more, He expects us to search out His presence through these distressing disguises, and commands us to serve Him in the poor. In fact, our own eternal judgment (the decision we make for ourselves whether we will live in eternal happiness with the Holy Trinity, or live in eternal misery separated from God’s love) depends in large part on the response to this command.
That is the startling message of today’s Gospel for the feast day, the famous “sheep and goats” judgment passage of Matthew 25: “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you … 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.' [but] '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.' …. 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.' …. 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
We tend of course to want to “gloss over” the second part of Matthew 25 very quickly (the “did not do’s”), but I think it is important to keep them both together in the context of Our Lord’s own words, so we don’t become self-congratulatory too quickly.
Toward that end, our Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, working in conjunction with Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, has asked all priests of this diocese to speak this weekend to the issues of poverty and the ravages of unemployment and underemployment in our nation and to carefully consider what our response should be as Christians who believe in the Good News of this Gospel. I am enclosing the Archbishop’s message on this topic as an insert into the bulletin and also posting some related items from Archbishop Dolan on our website.
For those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to share our time and financial resources this year with others in need it will certainly be worth our while to give their words due consideration and pray about how we can put this Gospel into action right here in our own parish community.
May God bless you and your family this Thanksgiving holiday as you thank Him for the many blessings He has given you including any opportunities to serve the poor.
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