WORD FOR MISSION

Missionary reflection  on Sunday Liturgy

That Real, Mysterious Presence:

“YOU DID IT TO ME!”

Christ The King - XXXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year “A” - Sunday  20.11.2005

Ezekiel  34:11-12,15-17

Psalm 22

1Corinthians  15:20-26.28

Matthew  25:31-46

Reflections

The Word of God this Sunday, Solemnity of Christ the King and last Sunday in the Liturgical year, has a clear message of recapitulation, and takes in the past, present and future both of individuals and of human history. They are all times of the saving presence of Christ, who is always 'Emmanuel', God with us: at Bethlehem he came in human flesh, he comes and walks with us in our daily lives; he will come at the last, as Judge. His presence is always marked by love, and brings comfort in suffering and gives hope, even in the face of the coming Last Judgement. That last moment is described in today's Gospel in terms of frightening severity (vv.41-46), which seem almost in contradiction with the rest of the Gospel, which presents Jesus as good, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners (Lk.7:34), who became man to "seek that which was lost" (Lk.19:10). But Matthew, after the tremendous scene of the judgement, almost emblematically gives us a Jesus who, in his Paschal work of love, is given up to be crucified (Mt.26:2)

Jesus, the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep (Jn.10), takes on the project of God, King and Shepherd, who is described by Ezekiel (1st. Reading) with a sequence of verbs that indicate the loving concern for the sheep: he searches for them, counts them, brings them together, leads, cares for and grazes them... In the Responsorial Psalm, we sing of certainty and joy, because the shepherd is near. And Paul, in the second Reading declares that all evil, including death, will be destroyed and overcome, thanks to the Resurrection of Christ.

To understand the text of Mt.25 regarding the Judgement, we must keep in mind the literary style regarding the scene of judgement in Bible (e.g. Dn.7) and other literature. The aim is not to describe exactly what will take place, to teach people how to behave now! Rather than information regarding the future, it is a programme for daily life today. In the light of the Last Judgement, Jesus reveals the qualities that our actions must have; he teaches us to organise our lives so as not to lose our way, make a mess of everything. The only way is His: to love and serve those in need. St John of the Cross said: 'At the evening of our lives, we will be judged by our love'.

Love for the weakest opens the gates of the Kingdom of God: "Come, you blessed of my Father..." (v.34). Jesus points out the way clearly: he repeats - four times - the six works of love towards those in need: the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, in prison. Love towards such people is part of the daily activity of the missionary, and is the task of every Christian and of the followers of all religions. These acts of love create a meeting-ground for all persons of good will. There is a similar list of good works in Isaiah (58:6-7); but as long ago as the second millennium before Christ, the Book of the Dead of ancient Egypt put these words in the mouth of the dead person: "I have done what pleases the Gods. I gave bread to the hungry, I gave water to the thirsty, I dressed the naked, I gave a passage to the one who had no boat". Jesus brings a decisive new element: He identifies himself with the weak and humble, to the extend that "you did it to me!" (v.40). The Lord seeks out the poor and weak before all the rest; they are preferred to all others. Matthew uses the same term that he applies to Bethlehem (Mt.2:6), the insignificant capital from which the Messiah came. In this sense, every poor person is like Bethlehem: a place where the Lord is made known. Hence, the preferential option for the poor  is not one of the alternatives from which we can choose; it is an obligation for the Church, as John Paul II declares forcefully: the very fidelity of the Church to her Lord is at stake... *

The recently Beatified (13th November) Brother Charles de Foucauld lived the presence of Christ to the full among the poor where he chose to live: the desert Beduin, all Moslems. A few months before his death he wrote: "I believe there is no other expression in the Gospel that made an impact and transformed my life more than this:  «whatever you do to one of these little ones, you do it to me». If one thinks that these are the words of the uncreated Truth, the words of the mouth that said: «This is my Body... This is my Blood», then with what power one is driven to seek and to love Jesus in these little ones, sinners and poor”. Charles of Jesus, the "universal brother", learned to recognise the presence of Christ, equally in the Eucharist and in the poor, even non-Christians. He was a true witness. He was an authentic missionary!


The Pope's words
*  “If we have truly started out anew from the contemplation of Christ, we must learn to see him especially in the faces of those with whom he himself wished to be identified: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you… I was a stranger… I was naked… I was sick… I was in prison and you came to me” (Mt. 25:35-37). This Gospel text is not a simple invitation to charity: it is a page of Christology which sheds a ray of light on the mystery of Christ. By these words, no less than by the orthodoxy of her doctrine, the Church measures her fidelity as the Bride of Christ… As the unequivocal words of the Gospel remind us, there is a special presence of Christ in the poor, and this requires the Church to make a preferential option for them”.

John Paul  II
Novo Millennio Ineunte (2001), n. 49

In the footsteps of Missionaries
- 20/11: International Day of Children's Rights, created by the UN in 1989.
- 23/11: St. Columban, Abbot (+615), born in Ireland, an itinerant missionary in France, Switzerland and Italy, and founder of a number of monasteries..
- 23/11: Bl Miguel Pro (1891-1927), a Mexican Jesuit, martyred during the persecution of the Church. A large number of other martyrs of the period are remembered with him..
- 24/11: St. Andrew Dung Lac (+1839), priest, and his companions, who were martyred in Vietnam. In 1988 Pope John Paul II canonised 117 of them: bishops, priest and lay people killed in various ways and various times in various places.
- 26/11: St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751), a Franciscan priest who preached numerous parish missions. He is the one who thought up the Way of the Cross.
- 26/11: Bl. James Alberione (1884-1971), founder of the Paulist Family (about ten Institutes) to make the Gospel present in mass media and to work for vocations.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Editor: Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci - Former Director of CIAM, Rome

Website:    www.ciam.org http://www.ciam.org/ “Word for Mission”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++