Sunday, February 17, 2013

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013 - LENTEN WEEKDAY MATTHEW 25: 31 – 46



1.      This much loved text presents a practical religion of deeds of loving-kindness, love of neighbor. It has been over interpreted to say that neither faith in Christ nor membership in the Church is necessary for salvation, but we should understand that it is not a denial of faith but the essence of faith.

2.      The charity list provides six of the seven corporal works of mercy in the catechetical tradition and the additional one is to bury the dead.

3.      The Sheep: the ones who believe in God, the good and the faithful servants, the ones who are persistent in doing good, the ones who seek glory and honour of God and the ones who do good

4.      Goat: The worthless servants, who profess faith only in their lips not in their hearts, the one who are self-seeking and the ones who do not obey the truth.

5.      Goats are not condemned for what they did, but for what they did not do, their sin was the sin of omission, not commission. How important it is for us to attend to the need of the poor and the suffering.

Today after the Sunday Mass in a substation, a mother whose two sons are staying with us in the boarding invited us for lunch. Our 25 boys and I went to their house to have our lunch. It was a small hut and we realized that all of us could not even enter the house and there was no place. We decided to have our lunch in front of the house under the shades of trees. The mother her four children two boys and two girls started serving us food joyfully. The food was in abundance and some of the boys struggled to finish their lunch. The thought that was running in my mind like motif throughout this day was, they had no place in the house but had a lot of space in the heart. They had little for themselves but gave us in abundance for us. I knew God was pleased with their charity and surely they have reserved huge space in His kingdom. Whatever you did to the least of your brothers you did it to me.

Courtesy

The New Jerome Biblical Commentary

Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible

 

 

 

 

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