What gifts do you bring to the Christ child?

The Epiphany account describes the magi recognizing and discovering the star that was discovered in the dark of night.  That star led them to the Christ child.  The magi were overjoyed at arriving at the
Bethlehem crib and offered their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The Epiphany journey of the magi is a beautiful description of the spiritual journey of each one of us.  I invite for your prayerful reflection to consider several components of the Epiphany account which can easily mirror the spiritual journey of each one of us,

1.       Like the magi, we are seekers for an encounter with the Lord, a deeper relationship with Jesus.

The magi symbolize what is restless in the human spirt seeking for a greater depth of meaning and purpose in life.  They left behind what was comfortable and safe and took considerable risk in traveling to another country in search of the Lord.  The magi speak to our restless human spirit seeking to discover the spiritual meaning and longing for that which ultimately satisfies us.

In 2015, we too are magi; we are seekers of a deeper awareness of the spiritual dimension of life – a deeper relationship with the Lord Jesus.

2.       The magi followed the star discovered in the dark of night to assist them in their journey to Jesus.  Who or what are the stars in your life that assist in your journey to Jesus?  The stars of life are not just to be found in the sky.  Often, it is the soul friends of your life that are the stars for you that lead you to Jesus.  Often enough, those stars are discovered in the darkness that comes from the struggles and challenges of life.

I give thanks to God for the stars in my life that have loved and supported me and witnessed to me the love of Jesus.  Without any doubt, the first stars in my life were my mom and dad who first led me to discover the Lord in my life.

I give thanks to people in our parish community who have witnessed to me the presence of God in my life.  For sure, some people do this by just by being themselves without any fanfare.  They simply do little things with great love in their hearts.  The stars of my life often enough don’t see they themselves as stars.  They just are who they are.

3.       The role of King Herod in the Epiphany story symbolizes for us is that we need to expect opposition in the spiritual journey at times.  We see the hostility of King Herod to the notion that he would have a rival to his kingship.  Moved by jealousy, he hatched a murderous plot that was foiled by the non-cooperation of the magi.

Before we simply reject the treachery of Herod, we need to acknowledge that there is a Herod within each of us that keeps from following Christ more fully.  What are the demons within us that make more self-centered than Christ-centered?  How radically do I share with those in need?  What keeps me from listening more fully to another’s point of view?  Do I make time for God in the way that I live?

4.       The magi presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child.  What gifts do we offer to the Christ child?  Our gifts are not gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Rather, our gifts are our time, talent, and treasure that we offer as good stewards of the giftedness that God has blessed us with.

This week and next weekend we are focusing on the spirituality of stewardship in our parish life.  Hopefully this week you have received a parish mailing on stewardship.  Prayerfully we ask you to place your filled out stewardship commitment card in the collection basket next weekend.

I invite you to see the connection between stewardship and the meaning of the epiphany event.  The magi were overjoyed at arriving at the Bethlehem crib and offered their gifts.  So too, for us, when we are overjoyed in encountering the Lord, we are led to share from our giftedness in the service of one another.

How much and how often are we to give?  As long as our God continues to share his unending love with us, that is how long we are to continue to give in the service of one another.  What is asked of us as the disciples of the Lord Jesus?  We all know that love is the first requirement of the disciples of Jesus.  Our love is to be expressed in the gifts of time, talent, and treasure.  Further, we are to give with grateful and joy-filled hearts.

Yes, we are called to share from our giftedness as did the magi.  But know in the Christmas mystery, it not just the magi who are seekers.  God is a seeker.  We are sought by a God who has become one of us and who hunts us down with His love.  In the Epiphany mystery, we need to allow ourselves to be found by the love of the Christ child.

5.       Notice well, the magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they departed for their country by another way.  Of course, they would return by another route.  Their lives have been changed by their encounter with Jesus.  May we too with God’s grace have our lives changed by our encounter with Jesus.  We cannot go back to our old way of living -- with our fears, our anxieties, our addictions, our grudges, our pettiness.  We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The spirituality of stewardship is all contained in the beautiful Epiphany account.  As you fill your stewardship commitment card this week and place it in the collection next weekend.  See yourself as the magi who are seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus.  As you are touched by our loving God, we gratefully share of our giftedness in the service of others.  In so doing, we are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in the family life of each of us.

In this beautiful Christmas season, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  The power of God was revealed as a tiny infant -- the Bethlehem infant born of Mary and Joseph.  God was revealed in the life of this Holy Family.

As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, we give thanks to God for the families of each one of us.  As we discover the mystery of God's love in the midst of our family life, we affirm that indeed our family is holy as well.  We first come to know the mystery of God's love  from our family.   Even though there is a considerable distinctiveness in the family life of each of us, God is present in each of our families.  And thus, may we fully embrace the holiness of our family life.

Families are the school of love.  We have the capacity to love and be loved because we have been loved into  life by our parents and all in our families who love us.  It is in all the ways we love that we are known as the disciples of Jesus.

May we always be grateful for our families.  Yes, there are some green pastures and dark valleys in the family life of us all.  There is some messiness, but there also much love.  For that we give thanks for all the ways our family life has been blessed.

There is an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in each of our families.  We are missioned to be the bearers of the mystery of Christmas.  May this light that is within our families shine forth to make a Christ-like difference in our community.

Mary is our best Advent guide to discover Jesus in the inn of our hearts.

FIAT  -- May it be done.  Fiat is a simple and powerful Biblical word.  From the first pages of the Bible in the creation account from the Book of Genesis, God said:  “Fiat Lux.”   Let there be light.  And there was light.  In the act of creation, God said:  “Fiat.”  Fiat Lux.  And the sun was created, and there was light to rule the day.

In the Gospel account today of Mary’s Annunciation, Mary spoke that creative word of God:  “FIAT."    Let it done to me according to your word.  Here we have Mary echoing the creating word of God.  When Mary said Fiat to the will of God in her life, she was not speaking of her ability, but rather her openness, her availability to the plan of God for her life.

From the moment Mary spoke these words:  “I’m the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.”  Her life was changed.  She had given herself over to God’s designs for her life.

This past Wednesday Evening I was visiting a parishioner in the surgical intensive care of Strong Hospital.  A week ago she had serious cancer surgery and was now experiencing complications in the recovering process.  She was on a respirator fighting for her life.  I was praying with her husband and her daughter and anointed her once again.   With much faith and a heavy heart, her daughter Laura simply said:  “Let God’s will be done.”  FIAT.  Such a courageous word spoken by this 20-some year old as she stood by the bedside of her mom holding her mom’s hands.

Laura was taking ownership of Mary’s prayer.  In so doing, Laura was entrusting to God the person she loved the most.

This prayer of Mary in the Annunciation has been known as the world’s greatest prayer.  It is the prayer that brought God down from heaven to dwell in the soul and body of a lowly young woman.  It is the prayer that brought about the greatest event in human history, God becoming human in Jesus.  It is a prayer that changed forever the course of human history some 2000 years ago. 

The prayer of Mary is so very different from what has been called the world’s most common prayer, the prayer in which we try to get God to do our will.  The world’s most common prayer says:  “My will be done,” whereas the world’s greatest prayer says, “Thy will be done.”

What does the Annunciation say to us as we prepare for Christmas?  The Gospel reminds us of God’s desire to dwell in the midst of humanity.  As Christmas draws near, Mary reminds us that the best Christmas, in fact the only true Christmas, is that Christ be born not in the little town of Bethlehem but in the inner sanctuary of our hearts.

The best possible Christmas gift to us and to all is God’s continual promise that I will be with you.  God’s presence in our life is the meaning of the mystery of Christmas.  God is with us.

Throughout the Old Testament, God said to Isaac:  “I am with you…I will not desert you."

To Jacob:  “Go back to the land of your forefathers, and I will be with you.”

God said to Moses when he objected to God’s plan:  “I will be with you.”

To Mary the angel Gabriel said:  “the Lord is with you.”

Surely this is the secret of the celebration of Christmas, that in the birth of Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem, God comes to us.

Do you remember what Jesus told us on the 1^st Sunday of Advent:  “Stay awake.”

Do you remember the words of John the Baptist on the 2^nd Sunday of Advent:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”

On the third Sunday of Advent, Jesus said:  “Happy is the person who does not lose faith in me.”

What we know and deeply believe is that God is with us.  The important questions that remains is:  “Where are we with God?”  Are we awake?  Have we repented with the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  Have we kept the faith?

The message for us, as for Mary, is that God continues to want to do with us what has never been done before.   Of course, Mary didn’t understand what she was doing.  She couldn’t possibly imagine the implications of her assent. 

As we enter the prayer of the church in Advent, how inspiring it is to contemplate that the Word of God is also coming to us. 

Advent is our time to ponder the promise that God is among us, that the Word is asking our consent to become flesh in our lives.  Mary invites us to share in the mystery she carried and bore in her human life.  The angel Gabriel invites us to say yes and to entrust ourselves to God’s plan for our life.

And our answer will be….

Our joy is found in the ways we help and are helped by one another.

In ten words, St. Paul expresses the message of Gaudete Sunday on the third Sunday of Advent:  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.” 

Our prayer is to express the joy and the gratitude that is in our hearts as we prepare for the birth of the Savior.  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.”

The way Pope Francis expresses the Advent joy is with one of his favorite expressions:  “Evangelizers must never look like they have just come back from a funeral.”  In this Advent season, we prepare with much hope and joy in our hearts.   

This past Wednesday Evening the Knights of Columbus gathered at Joey’s Pasta House for our annual Christmas party.  A great time was had by all.  Gaudete.  Rejoice.  Indeed there was a very joyful spirit enjoyed by all.  Now you may remember on Wednesday Evening we were hammered with a good amount of snow.  Everyone was cancelled but this Christmas party.  On the way home, yours truly got stuck in the parking lot under a pile of snow.  This had the potential of being a very unjoyful ending to a great Christmas gathering,   The front wheels of my car were spinning and going nowhere.  Thanks to Vince Cammarata and Bruce McDermott and others, my car was towed out of the snow bank.  Thanks be to God.  My point is even in a situation of being trapped in a snow bank, my joy was increased by the effort and generosity of Vince and Bruce.  May we rejoice and give thanks in the ways we help and are helped by one another.

This week John the Baptist is our Advent guide.  In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist was attracting crowds;  he was changing lives and touching hearts.  The people from Jerusalem asked John:  “Who are you?” John knew clearly his identity.  He knew who he was and who he was not.  John responded:  “I am not the Christ.  I am not Elijah…I am the voice of one crying out in the desert….I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worth to untie.”

The Pharisees wanted to know who John was, but John wanted them to know who Jesus was.  Emphasizing that he was not the Messiah, John identified himself as the herald of Christ.

We also ask the question to Jesus that was asked of John:  Who are you?  We wish to be able to recognize the presence of Christ in our midst. 

We ponder this question as we reflect on today’s Scripture readings.  In the first Scripture reading, Isaiah exulted in telling his beleaguered contemporaries that their rescue and restoration was at hand, not because they had merited these blessings but because God is faithful.  Paul assures the anxious Thessalonians that they can relax and celebrate their blessings without worrying about the unknown future.  Why?  Because God can be trusted.  Likewise, in today’s Gospel, John’s announcement of Jesus’ coming into the world should be met with great  joy because in Jesus, God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness have become flesh and blood, and God has chosen to speak to us with human heart filled with love for us.

Mindful of the words of the Baptist that we can fail to recognize the holy one who is in our midst, we seek to root our trust in a God who is always faithful.

What expectations help you to recognize Christ’s presence?  What expectations blind you to recognizing Christ?  Expectations can blind us.  We might be so intent on something that we miss the gem right before us.

John was filled with a faith-filled vision in recognizing Christ.  John lived his life deflecting attention away from himself so that the focus of faith and hope might be fully and directly on Jesus.  I am not the one; there is, however, one among you whom you do not know.  John had plenty of time to focus on Jesus because nothing else mattered to John.

May we in this Advent season exercise a John-like role directing attention away from ourselves and witnessing to the Christ who is in our midst.  May we find joy, Gaudete, in helping others recognize the presence of Christ in our midst.  It is my prayer that my preaching can help others know Jesus in their lives.  Yours is an even more important witness.  You are to preach without words.  How?  By pulling someone out of a snow bank or by a simple smile that communicates friendship, we witness to the mystery of Christmas --  our God is present to us in human flesh – in your human flesh and in mine.

The mission given to us at our Baptism is the same mission that was given to John.   We are to witness to the presence of God in our midst.  John preached a baptism of repentance; may we preach by the example of our lives a baptism of healing and forgiveness and love.   When we listen with patience and with much love to another, we are affirming that God-given dignity.  We are affirming that indeed the Spirit of God dwells in those we reach out to.

 In so doing, we rejoice.  We rejoice even in the midst of the violence that surrounds racial conflict and the threat of terrorism that we live with.  We rejoice because it is God’s call and command to us.  How could we not.

When the question is asked of us that was asked of John in the Gospel:  “Who are you?”   May we witness to the reality that the Spirit of God is upon us.   When we as the faith community of St. Joseph’s are asked:  “Who are you?”  May we respond with the words of St. Paul that describe our way of life:  “Rejoice always.  Pray without ceasing.  In all circumstances give thanks.”

Where are you? This was God's question to Adam and Eve. This continues to be God's question for us as well.

We are in the season of Advent, the season of waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping for God, waiting and hoping for the Second Coming of Jesus.  As much as we are waiting and hoping for God, can you imagine how much more God is waiting and hoping for each of us, waiting and hoping that we will turn to him during this season of grace, Advent?   Do you ever think about God’s love searching for you, longing for you?

Often, when I preach on Advent, the focus is our call to be patient, to wait with a joyful sense of hope as we anticipate the coming of Christ Jesus into the inn of our hearts.  This continues to be an important part of our Advent spirituality.

In this blog, I invite you to experience the Advent message with the eyes of God.  God is waiting for you in a joyful spirit of hopefulness.

Recall the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after they ate of the forbidden fruit.  Adam and Eve were hiding in the garden after eating the apple so God went searching for them.  Adam and Eve were nowhere to be seen.  They have gone into hiding after doing what he told them they were not to do.  They have lost themselves in the shadows.  How strange this seems.  Do we not sometimes complain that God is hiding from us?  That God is nowhere to be seen. 

In the Garden of Eden account, if our hearts had not known the burden of sin we would never have wanted to hide:  we would be out in the open and ready to walk with God.  And then God asks the question of Adam and Eve:  ‘Where are you?’  He is the one who begins the search.  We think of ourselves as searching for God and forget that it is God who is searching for us.  Why should God bother to do so?  Simply because HE LOVES US.  He has been searching in every century -- throughout the Old Testament times until he came at last with a human heart that could suffer for want of our love.

In the Advent season, Jesus invites us to come out of hiding and to walk with him:  his suffering has earned us forgiveness of sin.  “Where are you?”  We can see the intimacy that God wants between Him and us in the first Scripture reading today.  From Isaiah:  “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”

Imagine being held in the arms of God and leaning against his breast!  This is the intimacy God wants between you and him.  So during this season of Advent, let us ask ourselves is there anything keeping us and God apart?  Is any sin of any kind in our lives keeping us separated from God? 

Also in the first Scripture reading, we hear a beautiful prophecy about God liberating the Jews from captivity in Babylon:

            “Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.

            Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.”

That prophecy has great meaning when we apply it to our own hearts.  It is in our hearts that we need to prepare a way for the Lord.  It is in our hearts that we need to make a straight highway for God.  It is the valleys of sin in our own hearts that are to be filled with God’s mercy and healing.

In the second Scripture reading from Peter:  “The Lord is patient with us, not wishing that we should perish but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”  This Scripture gives us a warning.  God is patient with us now in order to give us time to repent but the time for repentance will not last. 

We are living now in this time of mercy when we have the opportunity to repent.  Let us receive as much grace as we can from God during this time of Advent.  The Lord has no limits to what he wants to give us.  It is we who put limits on what He wants to give us. 

God's 

God is searching for us and wants to hold us against his breast.  “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock:   in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”

Will you allow God to pick you up and hold you?

Advent spirituality can see in the dark and can find hope in dark places.

In the Gospel for this First Sunday of Advent, we are given the directive:  “Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.”

Even though we do not know the day or the hour, the clear message for us is to be watchful and alert.  The Lord comes to us in ways we may least expect.  The truth is all of our life is salvation history.  All time is sacred.  The Lord comes to us in the experiences and the relationships of life.

To be fully alert would be to recognize the hand of God in all that is during the Advent season.

In our spiritual journey, I caution all of us against the temptation of thinking there are two approaches to Christmas.  There are the Christmas parties, the Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, gift wrapping, and, of course, Santa Claus on the one hand; and there is our Advent prayer which prepares our hearts for the coming of Christ in Bethlehem and in the inn of our own hearts on the other hand.  We juggle between these two worlds and ending up feeling guilty because our prayer life gets short-changed.

Absolve yourself from this way of thinking!  We do not live in these two worlds.  We live in one world and the Lord is in our world continuously.  The Advent spirituality the Lord calls us is different from a dualistic approach to Christmas.  The whole Advent season is part of our salvation history, part of our sacred time.

The question is not whether our Christmas shopping gets in the way of our Advent prayer.  Rather, the message is discover the hand of God, the presence of God in the Christmas shopping we do and the Christmas parties we enjoy.  In other words, love everything that is part of this Christmas season.  May all you do be done with great love and with the spiritual-sightedness to recognize and to be alert and watchful how God calls you to do all with great love in your heart in the service of one another and to the glory and praise of God.

Lest you think I’m not smelling the coffee at times, yes there can be a tension between the world’s idea of Christmas vs. our Christ-centered heart’s desire for peace, hope  and serenity in this Advent season.  But may our Advent spirituality not call us to a win-lose proposition in thinking the world’s idea of Christmas to be totally foreign to the true meaning of Christmas.  The truth is to have the serenity, the centeredness, the prayerfulness to recognize the joy of celebrations and the spirit of Santa Claus.  All become sacred; all becomes a win-win when we can see the hand of God in the expectancy of children and the socializing that comes in this season.

Again, all time is sacred.  God is always present to you.  As to our Advent prayer, our Advent prayer helps us to be aware and to alert so that we recognize God is present to us every moment of the day.  Prayerfulness helps to be aware of what is – how God is present to us in all the moments of the days.  We certainly don’t want to be in such a rush during this Advent–Christmas season that we are not watchful and alert to God in our lives.

For example, as I reflected on celebration of Thanksgiving, we had a beautiful and prayerful celebration of the Eucharist on Thanksgiving morning.  I love starting this day of Thanksgiving celebrating with you the sacred celebration of the Eucharist.  Then I spent eight hours Thanksgiving afternoon and evening at my brother John’s with our family.  There were 49 of us gathered, and I must say that I was the oldest of our 49 family members.  We had much to eat, drink, and celebrate; had a family football game; and spent time with each other.  It was a bit chaotic at times, no doubt.

But my point is the whole day was sacred – not just the hour spent in Church celebrating the Eucharist.  Our family gathering was very sacred and spiritual as well – not that we were engaged in formal prayer (we did do grace before our Thanksgiving), but I was experienced the wonder of God’s love for me in holding my grandniece in my arms, in talking with siblings, nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.

So it is in this Advent season.  Be alert to how God is present to you in all of your Advent comings and goings – both those that are formally spiritual and in all other movements.  Do them all with great love and a keen awareness that all time is sacred.

I call your attention to the great Advent image that is in the first Scripture reading from the prophet Isaiah:  “Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter:  we are all the work of your hand.”  Let us rejoice in an Advent spent on the potter’s wheel, being shaped by loving hands into a truer image of the Christ who comes!  That is such a beautiful image of the meaning of the Advent season.  May we know that our loving Father wishes to shape us in this Advent season into a truer image of Christ who comes! 

Advent spirituality can see in the dark and can find hope in dark places.  If we really believe that all time is sacred, we can even embrace our mistakes, our crosses, the dark places of life where we experience the brokenness of depression, the brokenness of relationships, the brokenness of the losses and setbacks in life.  Yes, God is present to us in the darknesses of life.

Advent spirituality can see in the dark because we believe in the God of all hopefulness, the God of all joy.  This God who accompanies us in the darkness is the same God who promises that the light of Christ is coming into our lives and into our world.

Indeed, there is both an introverted and extroverted side to our Advent spirituality.  May our Advent spirituality become that needed rhythm of quiet prayer and welcoming hospitality.    Every moment is this Advent season is a sacred time for us to be aware of how God is revealing His love to us.

When judgment day comes for us, we know ahead of time what the Lord is going to ask of us on our "final exam."

Many moons ago in the 1980’s, I was the rector of Becket Hall, our diocesan discernment house for candidates to the priesthood.  There was a potential candidate named John who was both spiritual and troubled.  Regrettably, all of his energy needed to focus on himself to keep him on track.  He had significant mental health issues that did not make him a good candidate for the priesthood.  In fact, to this day, he has considerable difficulty with any kind of job responsibilities.  Although for all the world, physically he looks like he should be a capable person in the work force, he is trapped within himself by some fears and anxieties.

I have prayed many times over the way John and I have kept in touch with each other over these many years.  Come judgment day for myself, the Lord is not going to be overly impressed by my homilies, the fact that I am the pastor of two parishes, or the credentials after my name,  the first question the Lord is going to ask me:  “How is my friend, John?”

I invite you to consider that the first question the Lord is going to ask you on judgment day.  Who is the person or persons who are the Lord’s friends that he is going to ask you about?

On this the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Feast of Christ the King, Jesus lets us know very clearly what is going to be on the final exam for each one of us.  We will be graded on how well we have responded with compassion to those in need.

The Gospel describes the Last Judgment scene.  “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…The righteous will respond, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you…And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

There is nothing mysterious or difficult to figure out about today’s Gospel.  Each of us will be judged upon our performance of the simple works of mercy, we hear in the Gospel.  For me, I need to spend less time behind my desk as the pastor and more time being with people in need.  To show me that God has a sense of humor, as I was preparing this homily at my desk this past Wednesday evening, I received a call to go to the emergency department at Strong Hospital to anoint and to provide pastoral care to a family that was grieving.   The person died but the family and I with much faith entrusted him to the fullness of God’s eternal life and the family shared beautifully and with much faith prayed for her husband, their dad, their grandfather.  God’s presence was experienced in this family gathering.

As we gather on Sunday to celebrate the beauty of our liturgy Sunday after Sunday, the Gospel reminds us of the liturgy of life without which all other liturgy in Church has no meaning.  Plain and simple, if we are not focused in the liturgy of life in our service of one another, all other liturgy, no matter how beautiful it is, is pointless.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.  This is ironic because Jesus never acted like a king.  He embraced poverty, not wealth. He taught humility, not arrogance.  He emphasized service, not domination.  He chose a cross, not a palace.

Kinship, instead of kingship:  This is what Jesus is truly passionate about.  Kinship with “the least, the lost, and the last."

Jesus doesn’t even use big words like justice or democracy to explain what is going to be on our final exam.  He simply talks about food, clothes, water, shelter – the basics of life.

As we pray over today’s Gospel on the last judgment scene, there are obviously two groups of people – the righteous on the right hand side of the king and those on his left who will suffer eternal punishment.  It is obvious which group we would like to be with – those on the right who were responsive to people in need.  We see ourselves as helpers to the hungry, the thirsty, and the naked.

In our prayer, may we take a second look at this Gospel to see if are missing a most important message.  There are not just two groups of people in the Gospel account.  There are three.  There were the people who helped, and there were the people who refused to help, and there were the people who needed help.  That last group can be easily overlooked.  And yet, these are the people with whom Jesus chose to identify himself.

Jesus took his stand with the needy people of this world and said in effect:  “This is where I live.  These are my people.  I belong to them, and they belong to me.  Jesus not only cared about the needy and sought to help the needy. He completely identified himself with the needy.  There was His hunger.

That’s where you and I belong.  It isn’t as if the needy are people who need help, and we are the people who give help.  We all belong to the fellowship of the needy.

None of us are self-sufficient.  I need your help, and you need mine.  This is not an exclusive club.  Everybody is a member.  We need each other, whether we ever get honest enough to admit or not.

Who are the needy?  I am; you are; everyone is.  Today I may help you, but tomorrow I may need you to help me.  We are members of the same family, sharing our love, sharing our resources, sharing our needs.

Again going back to the Gospel, in His last words to us in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is telling us in advance that when we each stand before our God, we won’t be given a test that will be confusing or difficult.  It will instead involve only the most practical questions:  Did you feed the hungry?  Did you shelter the homeless?  Did you care for the sick?

And our answer will be….