Lenten Reflections - Day 5

Soul Purpose

Matthew 25:31-46 (Gospel on 10-Mar-2014)

There have been different and unique classifications about the kind of people there are in the world. According to today’s Gospel, I would consider the classification of mankind which identifies one group as those who serve God in their neighbor, and the others as those who serve their own selfish desires at the cost of their neighbor. These two groups of people could clearly represent the sheep and the goat. But what is interesting to see is that until the second coming of The Shepherd, the peoples co-exist in the same pen, in other words; living in the same world. The righteous judge; Christ Jesus, gathers the good flock (read as sheep) into His eternal kingdom of joy & holiness, whereas banishes the shallow flock (read as goats) into eternal damnation.

Let’s pay attention to the defense of His judgment. Those who have inherited heaven have done so by loving their neighbor as themselves. For in loving themselves they recognize the call to respect, care and preserve the sanctity of body, mind and soul; which in other words is the abode of living God. Now if one comprehends this truth, then one is rightly charitable and loving towards the neighbor. Let’s rewind back to a few centuries...actually over 20 centuries, to the time when Saul of Tarsus lived, in Cilicia, in what is now known as modern day Turkey. On his infamous crusade in the early 1^st century Anno Domini, against the newly formed Jewish sect called Christians, this zealous Pharisee had a life changing encounter with The Messiah – Jesus of Nazareth. As he fell to the earth from upon his horse on road to Damascus, the voice of the resurrected Christ, through a blinding light called out to him with great sorrow saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” This confrontation from the page of a glorious Christian history; should be etched in every man’s heart, if it burns with the desire of loving the neighbor as one's own self. Christ Jesus categorically tells Saul that he is; in reality; persecuting Jesus when he persecutes His flock. And to all mankind Jesus makes it crystal clear that He and His flock are ‘one bread, one body’. At this moment I am so inspired to remind us all of this verse of Holy Scripture, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 20:40)

Summing up her saintly life in characteristically self-effacing fashion, Mother Teresa said, "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." These are the words of a tiny nun from Kolkata, India, who; draped in a white & blue bordered sari, spent every moment of her life recognizing Jesus in the poor and less privileged, irrespective of caste or creed (her first shelter for the poor was a dark and ignored portion of a temple dedicated to the Hindu Deity – Kali). The Leper Priest, the Hero of Molokai – Father Damian, whose untiring labor of love for the lepers in the island of Molokai was so close to the heart of Our Good Lord Jesus, that The Holy Mother Church canonized him a saint in Rome on October 21, 2009. This glorious honor was witnessed by thousands along with King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium. “With them (lepers of Molokai) he felt at home” said the then Pope Benedict XVI about Saint Damian. He continued, "To follow Christ, Father Damian not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in today's Gospel tells us, received eternal life. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life."

Let's take a moment now, my dear friends, and contemplate whether our lives make us worthy enough to be that sheep which the Good Shepherd will lift up to be carried on His shoulders, or does it make us worth only to be burnt as straw in the abyss of eternal fire.

God bless,

John Roger Anthony