A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples: “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.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shares with his disciples an image of the final judgment. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will separate the righteous from the unrighteous (the sheep and the goats) based on their treatment of others. Jesus recognizes the good deeds of the righteous—their kindness and compassion toward others—while he condemns the unrighteous saying of them: “And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” But of the righteous, Jesus says: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
God, help me understand that how I treat others directly relates to my relationship with you. It is not that I daily encounter the physically hungry, or naked, or those who are ill or in prison. Where are the hungry, the naked, the ill, and those in prison who are closest to me? Help me satisfy even among my own family the hunger for compassion or the need for a burden to be lifted. I want to welcome those opportunities for the sake of your glory. But I first have to recognize when that opportunity to care for another is right before my eyes.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your presence! In that light, I have the hope of being merciful even as I trust in you to be completely merciful. Let me remember today to ask for your mercy so that I can be a means of it to others.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.