Gospel: Mt, 25,31-46
Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes, surrounded by his glory, accompanied by all his angels, he will sit on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father; take possession of the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, imprisoned and you came to see me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink, when did we see you a stranger and house you, or naked and clothe you, when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will say to them, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will also say to those on the left, 'Depart from me, you cursed; go into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no lodging, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and imprisoned and you did not visit me'. Then they will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not help you?' And he will answer them: 'I tell you the truth, when you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. Then these will go to eternal punishment and the righteous to eternal life.
Fruit: Convince me of the need to live holiness in order to bear fruit that will last for eternity. Long live Christ the King!
Guidelines for reflection
Today's Gospel is very practical and very direct: to get to heaven we must not only “do good” in the abstract, but translate it into helping others in the concrete of everyday life. The King, the just judge, will give to each one what he deserves, according to his behavior during his earthly life. What words would I like to hear? Come or go away?
When the Son of Man comes
It is a reality that few want to ponder. Christ will come once again, clothed in power and glory at some point in history. His word is reliable, and if He said He would come, it is because He will. It is not an interpretation. It is not an enigma of Scripture. How clear am I on this? Am I one of those who prefer to think that this will be a distant reality? That I will not see it? No one knows the day or the hour. Neither is it an occasion to create fear or psychosis. It is an opportunity to be on alert. Always vigilant to be prepared at all times. We do not know when it will be, but we do know that it will happen someday.
2. He will say to those on the right: Come....
Because the Christian life is something very concrete, very realistic. The Christian life is not only beautiful thoughts, not only beautiful feelings. Christian life is giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, etc. It is something very concrete and very real. It is to love God in my brother, in the person in front of me. And, small detail, it is to love the one who offends me, the one who slanders me, the one who defames me. It is to reach out to him to help him. Do I really want to hear from the lips of Christ: Come, blessed of my Father? So, what should I do, what should I check in my life so that the sentence of my just judge will be one of acceptance and not rejection?
3. He will say to those on the left: Stand back....
These are harsh words, for it is not only a distancing as of one who ignores the presence of someone, knowing that he is still present. It is a “turn away you cursed ones”. For God to curse someone... It really takes a lot of effort to live ignoring God for a lifetime. But there are people who live as if God does not exist. What hardness of heart! What indifference! So many opportunities we have in our lives to get closer to God, and these people reject them all. May we not lose our way and know at all times how to follow God's will faithfully reflected in the Church. He comes to meet us, we only have to follow Him.
Purpose: To ask in my prayers for those people who are far from God, especially in my family.
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