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The Lord said: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 And all the peoples will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 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. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? 40 Then the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
41 Then he will say also to those on the left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me a drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not take me in, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44 Then they also will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? 45 And he will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. 46 Then these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
the explanation:
{magictabs} My Parish Newsletter::
Matthew speaks of judgment immediately before he speaks of Christ’s suffering and death. The subject of judgment is linked to the coming of Jesus in glory. The early church undoubtedly understood the coming of Jesus in glory to mean the Second Coming, at the end of time. The image used here is that of a shepherd who separates his sheep from the goats, placing the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. Jesus is the King who comes in glory, surrounded by his angels, and gathers all the peoples to judgment. Judgment is based on the treatment of the younger brother.
The measure of judgment is the other. Your attitude towards it is what determines your place on the Day of Judgment. To the extent that you are attentive to the other person, loving him, to that same extent you deserve to be among those placed on the right. The right is a place of honor and blessing. To be at the right hand of Jesus means to share in His glory, just as He shared in the glory of the Father by sitting at His right hand. We are not talking here about places, with God there is no place. We are talking about sharing in glory or not.
The Christian life is an orientation towards the other. The other, that is, every person you meet, needs you to be attentive to him. The hungry, the thirsty, the needy, the stranger, the naked, the imprisoned, and the sick, await your loving attention. Christ is in these people. Your treatment of them and your unbounded love is treatment of Christ and love for Him. The other is before you at all times; he is not absent from you and should not be. You meet him as if you were meeting Christ. Carry with him what you are able to carry. Christ himself bore your pain and your sin. You encounter Christ every day in the face of those who ask you for help. You will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and you will not be among His blessed ones if you do not pay attention to them.
You gain glory if you give yourself, if you empty yourself. Our giving is limitless, it extends even to death, because love baptizes him at all times. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Love is only possible if there is someone to love. You cannot be a Christian and eliminate or marginalize the other. You cannot eliminate Jesus from your life. He is your goal. At the same level, you cannot ignore the other, whoever that other may be.
Christianity is not just a feeling. Feeling may not bring you closer to Christ. There is a sense of Christ’s presence with you every day. His presence is strong, it shakes you. He is the Son of Man in every sense of the word. He is the Son of Man because he suffers, he suffers for our suffering. And he was glorified because he bore our suffering. We are also glorified when we bear the suffering of others, when we make their suffering our own. Without this we go to eternal torment, and eternal torment means burning for not sharing in the glory of God.
Self-giving love eliminates all social barriers between people. It is no longer a matter of wealth or poverty, knowledge or ignorance… Christ has become the touchstone of your relationship with the other who in this sense becomes your God. You live by love because God loved you without expecting anything in return. You are therefore able to love all people, even those who are difficult to love, because He loved you and them to the extent that He took you as His home.
Our fasting is a training to accept the Lord in His sufferings. The Lord will not come to you unless you first come to your brother. By sharing in the suffering of the one who is suffering, you share in the suffering of Christ, and then you will be qualified to share in His resurrection and glory.
Quoted from my parish bulletin
Sunday, March 6, 1994 / Issue 10
|||| Lattakia Diocese Bulletin::
The parable of the sheep and the goats shows that the final judgment at the Second Coming of Christ will not be based on my own inner thoughts and feelings, my spiritual visions and joys. Nor will my judgment be as great as my ascetic exercises, fastings, and prostrations (although these are important).
All I will be asked is whether I fed the hungry, visited the prisoners and the sick, and sheltered the stranger in my home!
In other words, I will be asked about my relationship with my peers… How was my relationship with others?
Did you live with him from a spirit of participation? Were you closed in on yourself? Or a person in every sense of the word who lives in communion with others? Since we live today in a cold society characterized by an increasing tendency towards isolation and isolation, it is at the heart of our Christian message to emphasize the meaning of Christian communion… That is, we must resist the dominance of the machine “television – computer…” and emphasize the value of direct participation and direct encounter, not the encounter of the person with the machine… but the encounter of the person with the other person, face to face.
coexistence with others
The other in the concept of Christ is heaven with its eyes… For I see in him the image of God himself… “As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”
The basis of dealing and sharing with others is love.. Skills of interacting with others include the following steps:
- Accepting others as they are, not as we want them to be or as we imagine them to be. Failure to accept others as they are reflects a person’s failure to accept himself.
- Understanding and Comprehension: Give time for the life and spirit of the company to grow. Listen a lot before you speak… Express yourself clearly.
- Initiative: Do not wait for others, but always take the first steps with a spirit of strength (with the strength of Jesus). Love always means initiative.
- Encouragement, appreciation and appreciation: Encouragement all the time and all the time… Don’t wait for encouragement from others. Give it or not and you will find it coming back to you… Beware of criticism, insults and humiliation for any reason… Rather, draw attention to the mistake with kindness, gentleness, wisdom and love.
- Avoid wrong methods of love: sensitive love, nurturing love, waiting love, silent love, lukewarm love...
- Be filled with the richness of divine love: by praying for others… Take your brothers and sisters in your heart and pray for them… Be satiated with Christ and offer Him to them by constantly sharing with them.
Quoted from the Lattakia Diocese Bulletin
Sunday 10-3-2002 / Issue 10
{/magictabs}
