Monday of the First Week of Lent - March 11, 2019
As I read my assignment for
today, I felt relief. I knew these readings; I could relate to them. I had
heard them multiple times and thought that I understood them well.
The first reading from Leviticus
tells me to love my neighbor as myself and to judge my neighbor justly. I know
this! I believe this in my head! I often find it difficult to carry out, but I
do believe it.
Today’s gospel, Matthew 25, many
of us know well through readings, songs, and social concerns committees,
"Whatever you do for one of the least of …mine, you do to me." Feed
the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; welcome the stranger; clothe the naked;
comfort the sick; visit the prisoner. We try to do these things in our life.
I decided to read our parish book,
Stranger God by Richard Beck, to see
how it could expand my understanding of Matthew 25 – and expand it did! After I
read the book, I realized that I had been reading Matthew 25 literally. I serve
food to the homeless, donate household goods to refugees, build houses for the
poor, and celebrate mass with prisoners. However, I began asking myself, “Did I
ever really see Jesus in these
strange people or was I doing these good works to make myself feel good?”
Beck says that the God who comes
to us in strangers is too strange for us to see. In today’s parable God said to
the goats, "I was everywhere in disguise." Beck goes on to say,
"Jesus comes to us in the strangest and most unlikely of places. Jesus
comes to us in the failures - in the discarded, the jobless, and the addicted.
Jesus comes to us in the crazed and demented, in the deformed and disabled.
Jesus comes to us in a wheelchair or pushing a cart on skid row. But we have to
see him!”
Q: Who is the person in whom I struggle to see
Jesus?
I am loving these daily reflections! I'm so glad I can access them online from anywhere. Thank you, Megan B.!
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