Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25, 31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
‘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.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”

Time to do good

1. They will be assembled. It is the first thing we see in today’s Gospel: Christ assembles all people. I want you to understand that in this life you cannot be isolated, alone.  Jesus calls you to live in a family, in a community and to be united with others. Jesus Christ chose to live with twelve apostles until the end of his mission on Earth, knowing that it is difficult to live together. It is not good for you to isolate yourself and live in solitude. Don’t expect people  to always be calling you; you should go out and share, even if it may be hard at times. Send others a short message asking how they are or when you can visit them. Don’t make up excuses. Excuses are excuses, like that your knee hurts or that you have too many things on your plate at the moment. Take the time to share your life with the people who love you. Share time now because life is short.

2. With my brothers and sisters. Today the Gospel talks about good deeds. In this Lenten season, we must do good deeds, we must show our faith by helping others. We Christians are called to do concrete and simple actions. I have to admit that we are half asleep, but we must get up to work for our neighbor, for our brothers and sisters. There are many people who need us, many indeed, and we do not realize. If the Church doesn’t go out, I mean you and me, we will get sick and we’ll all end up living in a tremendous gossip circle, because we will have nothing else to do but to criticize one another. Go out, make your own proposals, get together to cook food for the poor or visit the sick or go to evangelize an area. There are so many things you can do! Let’s do good deeds!

3. Inherit the kingdom. Jesus looks at our actions. The way we behave towards others, our actions, the way we treat others is what leads us to heaven or hell. Your actions allow you to live in peace with others. And your actions may also lead your life itself to become hell. There are times when you complain saying “everyone attacks me”, and maybe the problem is not “everyone” but rather “you”. May your life be heaven because, as St. Paul says, “there is more happiness in giving than in receiving”. I assure you that if you do something good, the experience, the peace, and the harmony that you’ll feel is unique.

Always remember that something good is on the way!  

God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit