A Reflection for Monday of the First Week of Lent
You can find today’s readings here.
“Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?’” (Mt 25:37)
It comes as no surprise that the goats were caught off guard. On the day of the Last Judgment, those who have lived blinkered, selfish lives, ignoring the suffering and need around them, are left asking, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?”
They never stopped for the hungry or the thirsty, the stranger or the naked, the infirm or the imprisoned; why should we think they recognized the Lord, the lowly carpenter from Nazareth who died on the cross, in their midst?
What caught my eye in today’s readings was the response of the righteous. They, too, were caught off guard. Those who did feed the hungry, heal the sick and welcome the stranger have (almost) the exact same question as those accursed goats: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?”
How could it be that those who served Christ in every interaction with the least of these were also unaware of his presence?
But then I think of the people I’ve met who radically live up to Jesus’ call in Matthew 25—people you may have heard of like Sister Helen Prejean, who accompanies inmates on death row, or Sister Norma Pimentel, who cares for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border; and people you’ve never heard of, like my college friend Hunter, who used to go out into the woods a few miles from campus once a week to check in on an elderly man who was camped out there. Though to my eyes, their service seems extraordinary, to hear them describe it, it’s just what they do. And they love doing it. My hunch is if you asked any of them why they do what they do, they would not say, “To earn eternal life!”
Rather, it seems they have tapped into something very true about what it means to be human, and having done so, what to others might look like acts of service to be endured are in fact relationships to be delighted in. How often have you heard someone say after a service trip that they got out of it more than they gave? (I’ve said it myself!) It may be a cliché, but it points to the same truth: We are happier, more fulfilled people when we use our gifts in the service of others.
Why is that? Because we are made in the image of God, a God that walked the earth healing the sick, feeding the masses and reconciling the outcast. When we do the same, we learn that it is not only the way to eternal life, but to a good life here and now: “The law of the LORD is perfect,/ refreshing the soul” (Psalm 19:8).
