In the Catholic Tradition, the end of the liturgical year is marked by the Solemnity of the Lord Jesus Christ, Ruler of the Universe (once called “Christ the King.”). The gospel reading for this past Sunday was Matthew’s account of the end of the world, in which the Christ returns in glory and stands in judgement of humanity. (Matthew 25:31-46). For myself, this gospel reading of the Last Judgement fully illustrates the last command of Jesus to the apostles, prior to his crucifixion, “Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12).”
Those who are saved and go to heaven are those whose lives are marked with love and compassion for those who are suffering. They feed the hungry. They give water to those who thirst. They provide shelter for the homeless, They clothe the naked. They care for those who are ill. They welcome the stranger (refugee and immigrant). They visit those who are imprisoned. They are told that because they acted out in love and compassion to those who are suffering, they acted out in love and compassion to Christ.
Conversely, those who are not saved and sentence for eternity to hell are those whose lives are marked with self-indulgence, who ignore or refuse to assist those who are suffering. These are people who choose to be devoid of all compassion and warmth toward others. They allow the hungry to starve. They allow those who are thirsty to die of thirst. They allow the homeless no shelter. They allow the naked to freeze to death. They refuse to provide medical care to those who are ill. They abhor and scorn the stranger, the immigrant, and the refugee. They let those who are imprisoned to rot in their prison cells. They are told because they lacked compassion and love for the suffering, they have separated themselves from Christ forever.
OUR SERVING OTHERS MUST BE AUTHENTIC NOT SELF-SERVING
However, there is one qualification in our service to those in need. St. Paul reminds us this service cannot be self-serving. The intention behind our service to others is not to boast of what we are doing, or to advance our standing in our own individual religious and community ghettos. Our service must be sincere and authentic.
Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, teaches this point very clearly. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).”
The Last Judgement reading from Matthew’s gospel is probably the most powerful gospel passage in all four gospels. It reminds us that religious observance is not just isolated to a prayer and attending religious services on the weekend. Rather, the degree of people’s faith and religious observance is measured by God in how they work to ease the burdens of others. Those who act in compassion and love to those who are suffering.
BE DOERS OF THE GOSPEL
This message is not isolated to just the gospels. James, in his letter, reminds us that we must be doers of the gospel. “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like (James 1:22-24). James continues in the second chapter, ”What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. (James 2:14-18).”
In the first letter of John, the same message is proclaimed. “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him (1 John 4: 18-19).”
JUST SMELLS AND BELLS ARE NOT ENOUGH TO GET TO HEAVEN
There are those, clergy and laity alike, who pride themselves on their religious rituals attendance and prayer life, what I use to call “smells and bells” Catholics (the use of incense and ringing of bells at Mass), and think that is enough. They try to buy their way into heaven through religious indulgences. Yet, they turn away in disgust from the homeless, ignore the neighbor who lives in domestic violence. They look down upon those who may be different from them, whose religious observance, whose religious practice, whose religion or culture is different from theirs. They condemn those in the LGBTQ+ community and anyone who is “different” from them.
For those who believe that just attending church and saying their prayers is enough, the very first chapter of the prophet Isaiah has an extremely stern warning.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation— I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:11-17)
This requires us to look at others and the all of creation with a different set of eyes.
SEEING IN A NEW WAY CHRIST REVEALED ALL AROUND US
In Richard Rohr’s book, The Universal Christ, he approaches the incarnation of Christ in the manner of St Francis of Assisi. Francis of Assisi believed and taught that the first incarnation of Christ was in the creation of the world. As the Prologue of John’s gospel tells us, all things created are created through the Logos, the Christ. In other words, the presence of Christ is embedded, imprinted in every rock, water, air, molecule and atom that makes up all of creation. Christ is incarnated first in that which Christ created. The second incarnation of Christ is in the human person of Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth we celebrate on December 25th. In the life of Jesus, Christ was merged into humanity so that the Christ could fully reveal who God is to humanity. The third incarnation of Christ was into the community of faith that was created on Pentecost, that which we call “the Church”. Obviously, given the behavior of those in the Church over the centuries, this is a work, or incarnation, in progress.
The way in which I make sense of this abstract concept is through the use of abstract concepts in sacramental theology.
In the parlance of Catholic sacramental theology, what happens at the consecration is that the Holy Spirit, through the priest, reveals the real presence of the Christ in the bread and the wine. The real presence of Christ was already there, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we fully see and experience that real sacramental presence of the Christ, the source of all things created in the universe. It makes sense that this revelation of the real presence does not go away, following the consecration. We often talk about how we cannot “unsee” something we have seen. So it is for me with the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
In the gospel today, Jesus is telling us is to see the real presence of the Christ in the person who is hungry, who is thirsty, who is naked, who is homeless, who is the stranger, the refugee, the immigrant, who is ill, and who is imprisoned. All of us carry within us the real presence of the Christ through whom we were created. The divine DNA of the Christ is embedded in us, is imprinted on every cell of our bodies, and imprinted on our very souls.
When we see, with a new set of eyes, the real presence of the Christ in all people, especially those who are most in need, we can no longer “unsee” that real presence. The Christ imprinted upon our own souls must respond in love to the real presence of Christ in those who are suffering.
Let our prayer for the upcoming new liturgical year be for our eyes to behold the real presence of the Christ in those around us, especially those most in need. When we respond in love to the Christ in all people, we begin to live far more fully the command of Jesus “To love one another as I have loved you.”
