By F. Luis Casasus, General Superior of idente missionaries
Commentary on the Sunday Gospel of 26-11-2017, Christ the King – Solemnity (Book of Ezekiel 34:11-12.15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26.28; Matthew 25:31-46)
Commentary on the Sunday Gospel of 26-11-2017, Christ the King – Solemnity (Book of Ezekiel 34:11-12.15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26.28; Matthew 25:31-46)
The Gospel of the final judgment responds to the most universal of human hopes. It assures us that injustice and evil will not have the last word and at the same time it calls on us to live in such a way that justice is not a condemnation for us, but salvation, and we can be those to whom Christ will say: Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It is the general expectation that with the Second Coming of Christ, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (Rev 21:4).
It is not only Christians who hope. Indeed, in the 1960’s, Moltmann’s, the noted German theologian, frequently expressed the opinion that in the modern period hope largely migrated from the Christian church to the secular movements of human hope. Our father Founder managed to clarify this drawing a distinction between true hope and the universal human expectation.
The prophet Ezequiel in the first reading gives us a glimpse of God as the tender Shepherd, watching out over His sheep. This image, however, also has the shepherd destroying the strong. This reflects that God is interested in the poor, the strayed, the injured and the sick. Ezekiel talks about a Shepherd who is very hands-on with his sheep. He pastures and tends the sheep himself; seeking the lost and healing the wounded. He leaves nothing to others but tenderly cares for his sheep himself.
The First Letter to the Corinthians, which is the second reading today, tells us in very simple words that everything, everyone, will become subjected to Christ. Death will be conquered and everything that has been created will become subject to Christ.
The Gospel from Matthew brings us to the image of the judgment. Using this image, Matthew makes clear that it is a judgment based on our love and care for others. This is where we are to focus our attention in this life: love and care of others, especially for those who have most needs.
These three readings tell us what kingship and leadership and ruling over others is about: love and care. Christ is our king and we are invited to live the same way that He has lived.
The criteria on which we will be judged are interesting. Nothing about the Ten Commandments (normally the matter of our confessions). Nothing about the things mentioned in the first reading, which more or less reflect the contents of the Ten Commandments. There is nothing about what we normally call “religious obligations” (e.g. being ‘at Mass’ on Sundays and holydays). All these important elements of our ascetical effort are expressed in the language of the Old Testament, but Jesus emphasizes that Care and service to one another is the hallmark of Christ’s kingdom.
The test will be very simple. Did we love all our brothers and sisters or not?
It is only by tending to the needs of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked and the imprisoned, that we partake of the salvation. It seems opportune to remember that Corporal Works of Mercy are kind acts by which we help our neighbors with their material and physical needs, such as feeding, clothing, sheltering, welcoming, visiting and burying them. Spiritual Works of Mercy are acts of compassion by which we help our neighbors with their emotional and spiritual needs:
1. To instruct the ignorant.
2. To counsel the doubtful.
3. To admonish the sinners.
4. To bear patiently those who wrong us.
5. To forgive offenses.
6. To comfort the afflicted.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.
Here is a splendid example of living out…all of these acts of mercy:
On June 2, 1979, Pope John Paul II came to Victory Square in the heart of Warsaw and celebrated Mass in the presence of hundreds of thousands of people and the entire Polish Communist government. During his homily the pope spoke of God, of freedom, and of human rights; all topics frowned upon by the Communist regime. As the Pope preached, the people began to chant: We want God; we want God, and did not stop for an astonishing fifteen minutes. During this demonstration of the people’s will, John Paul turned toward the Polish government officials and gestured, as if to say: Do you hear? Communism, at least in Poland, was from that moment, moribund. In point of fact, the government did fall, and a few years later the entire Soviet Communist Empire disintegrated with barely a shot fired.
Saint John Paull II responded, neither with counter-violence nor with flight, but rather with a peaceful and provocative gesture meant to draw the aggressor into a new spiritual consciousness.
Christ is indeed our King and we are called to model ourselves after him. He gave his life so that we could have life. We are called to give our lives so that our brothers and sisters can have life.
In many occasions, it is difficult to understand the mercy of God. On this issue, here is an important remark of our father Founder:
Christ elevates at the same time in his suffering all of human suffering to the supernatural level, to that new order of being of all things established by Christ’s Redemption.
Here the only objection that can be raised, doctrinally speaking, is that Christ as God, instead of liberating us from suffering in order to demonstrate his omnipotence and mercy, reveals to us precisely the supernatural form of his omnipotence and mercy. And he does it by elevating what is natural in us to a distinct and totally new order superior to us, and provides the form of glory for our being in eternity, of which Christ is anthropologically the model, the great theorist.
What would Christ tell us if we would raise the question of how is it possible that He being omnipotent, would permit human suffering? He would tell us the following:
I can do two things:
a) Take away that human suffering. Bearing in mind that since I have not done so I appear to be unmerciful in the rational field. However, I cannot appear unmerciful.
b) Elevate your affliction to a supernaturally distinct order, becoming part of what will be the form of your eternity. Now you would not be able to tell me that I am not merciful, but rather that my mercy has a characteristic, a provision for you which you cannot understand (Introducing Christ in our modern world).
Pope John Paul II reminds us: The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission. Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission. There is no genuine holiness apart from the mission to care for the spiritual and material good of others.
Consequently, Christian charity is more than just social work. Rather, it is to bring Christ to others. The parable in today’s gospel underscores that Christian service is not simply charitable work but rather, the service of our neighbors is performed with a supernatural motive, which is for the love of Christ who lives in our neighbors. In doing good, we are called to meet Christ in the needy and at the same time, to bring Christ to those whom we serve. This presupposes that we can see Christ in others. This is a characteristic feature of the Mystical Recollection and Quietude.
Pope Francis made it clear: We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don’t proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong. We would become a compassionate NGO and not a Church which is the bride of Christ.
French poet Charles Péguy captures the audacity of divine mercy:
Terrible love, terrible charity,
Terrible hope, truly terrible responsibility
The Creator has need of his creature, put himself in need of his creature.
And can’t do anything without it.
A king who has abdicated into the hands of each of his subjects
Merely absolute power. God needs us, God needs his creature
Effrayant amour, effrayante charité,
Effrayante espérance, responsabilité vraiment effrayante,
Le Créateur a besoin de sa créature, s’est mis à avoir besoin de sa créature.
Il ne peut rien faire sans elle.
C’est un roi qui aurait abdiqué aux mains de chacun de ses sujets
Simplement le pouvoir suprême. Dieu a besoin de nous, Dieu a besoin de sa créature.
God places himself in our hands, God hopes in us. We are called to show mercy because mercy has been shown to us in the person of Christ Jesus. This is why a godly person (or many of them!) complained to God at the end of a long day: God, you don’t care about us! Why do you allow all these: war, hunger, sickness to happen? Why are you not doing anything? God looked at him with tenderness and love and said: I did something, my son. I created you!
God cannot be seen, but we are visible. A very appropriate example is one of the many moments of Mother Theresa: An Indian man had been rescued from the gutter by her. He observed the loving care taken of a dying man lying beside him. He noticed how the Sister bathed this poor man’s dirty, broken body with great tenderness, smiling at him as she did so. The man beckoned Mother Teresa and said to her: I came in here an unbeliever, my heart full of hatred, but now I believe, and my heart is full of peace, because I have just seen God’s Love in action.
Notice the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel text: You did it TO me, not FOR me. Jesus identifies himself especially with the person in need. Every time we neglect to help a brother or sister in need, we neglect Jesus himself. Our worst sins, our most dangerous sins will be our sins of omission. We can keep the 10 Commandments perfectly and still fail here. The next time we examine our conscience before Christ, let us think about that.
Only a deep love for Christ will give us the spiritual eyes to see that in so far as we do it to one of the least of these, we do it to Jesus and conversely, if we fail to do it, we have neglected to do it to Jesus, for Jesus is identified with every person, especially, the poor and lonely. These are found not only outside the walls of our house, but most likely amongst our brothers.
Once more, it is very healthy to remember Pope Francis insistence on concreteness, very much so in the line of our father Founder view of ascetical life:
To that end, are you sure that the following story is too simplistic for you?
A woman dreamed that Jesus would visit her the next day. So, the following morning, she cleaned the house thoroughly, prepared a sumptuous meal and put on her best clothes. Later on, a neighbor came to borrow money since the money her husband sent her from abroad for the family’s daily needs had not yet arrived. But she did not entertain her neighbor’s plea because her mind was on her expected visitor. Another neighbor asked her to watch her sick child while she went out to buy medicine. She also turned down the request because her mind was on her expected visitor. A third came to ask for her help to settle a misunderstanding in the family but again she refused because her mind was on her expected visitor. Meanwhile, Jesus failed to show up at the woman’s house. When Jesus appeared again in her dream that evening, the woman asked why He failed to keep His promise. Jesus told her: I came to visit you three times today, but each time I was turned away.
As we await the coming of Christ…don’t be surprised in the many ways in which Jesus shows himself to us…even in the most unexpected of situations and unexpected of people.
Mercy is never abstract. It is a practice of love, and like all practices, it is concretized by doing something to someone…and always: It takes place in the shadows, on the peripheries, and in the mundane realities of daily life. Yet in its hiddenness, mercy is the antidote to despair; it is the work of hope which remains impossible to extinguish.
Mercy is a form of life that flows from the pierced side of Christ. It is a form of life that puts us at the disposal of another. By practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (numbering well over 14…), we erase the punishment that remains in our soul due to the sins: Blessed are the merciful because they will receive mercy.
As we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, we, too, as missionaries, share in the leadership of Christ. In truth, we are all disciples and masters at the same time in different ways. We are all sheep and shepherd simultaneously. We serve each other in different roles. The secret of leadership lies in the conscious reminder that we must first be sheep before we are shepherds. We need to live in a constant state of prayer and reflection, offering our deeds, impotence, thoughts and desires before we can be good shepherds. I need to know the Affliction of Christ and the signs of the Holy Spirit at work in my neighbor, before I can bring him closer to our Heavenly .Father.
