THE DECISIVE ISSUE AT THE LAST JUDGMENT

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING

Jesus said to His Disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the Angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

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. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'

Then the righteous will answer Him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you? And the King will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least of brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then He will say to those in His left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'

Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of the least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, we honor Jesus Christ as King of the Universe and our King. We gather to celebrate not only His triumph and glory, but also His Justice. Today's Gospel tells us that, as the Judge of all human beings, He will base His irrevocable decision on the way we have treated our neighbor. He, in fact, considers as done to Himself whatever we do to our brothers and sisters.

A personal judgment at the end of life and a universal judgment at the end of time come as no surprise. Man was created and granted free will but also to be made “accountable.” Everyone will have to account to the Eternal Judge for the way he/she has used His God-given gifts and opportunities.

However, what comes as a surprise in the dramatized account of the Last Judgment presented by Jesus, is the “limited scope” of accountability. Though granting that the instances mentioned by the Judge are not exhaustive, the fact remains that they are all and only about our attitudes/actions toward people. Not a single question about our attitude toward God.

This is surprising indeed for – after all – wasn’t Jesus the one who taught his disciples to pray, who wanted them to pray always (see Lk 18:1), and who himself spent hours in prayer? (See Mt 6:9 and Lk 6:12.) And was he not the one who stated that the greatest commandment is to love God with all one’s heart, soul and mind? (See Mt 22:37-38.)

And yet, today, we seem to learn from him that what will matter in the end will be only the way we treat our neighbor, especially the least fortunate and needy! Only the second group of commandments seems to hold.

Reflecting further, however, the surprise ceases. Actually, we find it could not be otherwise. With the Incarnation, God has become a brother to every human being. It is not just a matter of proximity and relation, but a matter of effective identification. In addition to loving God in Himself, we have also to see, love, and serve God in our neighbor. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me!” (See Mt 25:40.)

The Last Judgment is the mystery of the Incarnation brought to its utmost practical consequences. It is not that God and our love for Him have been “left out.” They are “in” as an indispensable prerequisite.

But the Gospel for today reminds us that our love for God has to be proven through the way we treat people, especially the people we dislike and those we usually avoid: the hungry, the sick, the unpleasant, the dejected, the convicts . . . These are some of the categories of people in whom it is so difficult to see Christ, the all-holy God. To see and serve Christ in them demands not only mercy and generosity, but an immense faith as well.

The Final Judgment will ultimately be a judgment on our practical acceptance of the Word who became “flesh,” a judgment on our “Yes” to the God steeped in our very frailty and needs.


Euchalette, 23 November 2008
WORD AND LIFE PUBLICATIONS
MCPO Box 1820, Makati City 1258, Philippines

MAKING THE MOST AS STEWARDS OF GOD'S GIFTS

FOR TO EVERYONE WHO HAS, MORE WILL BE GIVEN
BUT FROM THE ONE WHO HAS NOT,
EVEN WHAT HE HAS WILL BE TAKEN AWAY

Jesus told His Disciples this parable: "A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one - to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

Immediately, the one who had five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one, dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money.

After a long time, the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.'

Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See I have made two more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.'

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter. So out of fear, I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.'

His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then, have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' " (Mt 25:14-30)

God is so ever generous with each of His Creatures, and especially with us, human beings. He has lavished on us material, physical, intellectual, effective and spiritual gifts. All of God's gifts are beautiful and precious. They are so many, far beyond our counting, for God is always immensely generous in lavishing His blessings upon us.

For our part, our first duty is to become aware of them. Denying God’s gifts or hiding them is not humility, but a very impoverishing form of moral blindness.

On the other hand, once we become aware of the gifts we have received from the Lord, we should not boast about them, as if they were our doing, nor should we take them for granted as something that God “owed us.”

The proper attitude toward the favors of the Lord is that of Mary’s, as we see it splendidly expressed in the opening of her Magnificat: "It is honest and grateful appreciation of these gifts as signs of God’s love for us." (See Lk 1:46-49.)

But, in addition to acknowledging them as coming from the Lord, we also have to utilize these gifts according to His will, i.e., with wisdom and creativity. God, who is ever so generous and trusting – will ask us to account for the way in which we have used His gifts.

The secret to be happy with what the Lord has given us is to make the most of His gifts and opportunities. God's gifts are like seeds laden with potentials. It is for us to discover these potentials and make them bear fruit by using them with creativity, a sense of responsibility, and Christian love. At the end of our life, we will be asked to account for the way we used such gifts.

What we shall have to account for is not any big sum of money entrusted to our enterprise. It is not only and simply the way we have used our physical, intellectual, aesthetic, spiritual faculties, and the numberless opportunities to do good to others offered us by the Lord.

The most important item of our accountability will be our very “self,” God’s basic and most precious gift to us. This means that, in addition to having to account for what we did to others, we shall be specially accountable for what we did with ourselves.

God has implanted in each of us the potential to become a saint, to be a living example and an instrument of His saving and sanctifying love. The decisive question will always be, “Did we do our best to become one?” Only a positive answer will entitle us to hear the invitation, “Come, share your Master’s joy!” (Mt 25:21)

Euchalette 16 November 2008
Word and Life Publications
MCPO Box 1820 Makati City 1258, Philippines