Matthew 25: 31-46

Matthew 25: 31-46

The following is used by permission from our friends over at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Mill Valley, CA.

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus describing the Final Judgment, the Second Coming of Christ where (at some unknown point in the future) “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”. As Christians we look forward to this day, not because we want to escape the world around us out of fear; this is not a faithful Christian perspective. We look forward to Christ’s second coming because Jesus coming again makes present what we are working toward: the Transformation of the World so that Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Every day we are called to transform the world around us, to till the soil of the New Creation, so that God’s presence may continue to take root in the world. How do we do this? Sometimes this means living a life of humble heroic virtue, sometimes this means speaking to others about our Faith with confidence and invitation, but this must always include having a relationship with the poor.

Jesus has placed the poor in our lives as a sign of His presence among us. He has placed usin the lives of the poor so that we might meet their needs knowing that whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.

We do not ‘do service’ or help others because we want to be ‘nice’ or because it makes us feel good. We serve others and advocate for justice because we see the face of Jesus in every person, and believe that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and has inherent dignity. When we see other people as our brothers and sisters, instead of as ‘others’, we cannot help but be in relationship with them.

This is our path to holiness, to transform the world and our hearts.

Gospel Reflection (Oct. 16): What Belongs to God?

The following is used by permission from the blog Echoing Hope, written by Jonathan Lewis, a DRE in Mill Valley, CA.

Matthew 22: 15-21

In today’s Gospel passage the Jewish leaders are trying to trick Jesus into getting in trouble with the government (Roman Empire) by trying to get him to say that a person need not pay taxes (since paying taxes wasn’t one of the Jewish laws).

Jesus responds by asking them: whose face is imprinted on the coins? When they respond “Caesar” He tells them that they should “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”.

It is important as Christians for us to live a life of justice: giving each person what is owed to them. But how do we give God what belongs to Him? What belongs to God? We believe that God created the world, every person, and everything. Every day God continues to give us life and love as a free gift. While Caesar’s face was imprinted on coins, the face of God is imprinted on each of our hearts. We are called to give God our whole selves, everything that we are, nothing less. We do this by resembling God in our thoughts, words and actions.