“I beg you, join with me in love. Run with me in faith. Let us yearn for our heavenly home. Let us sigh for it. Let us realize that we are strangers here below.” –St. Augustine
Matthew 25:31-46: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?0 And the King will answer, I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me. Next he will say to those on his left hand, Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me. Then it will be their turn to ask, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help? Then he will answer, I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me. And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’
Christ the Lord Jesus Christ makes an unambiguous claim to universal authority. All the nations of the world will come before him to be judged; all the angels make up his royal court; he holds in his hands the eternal destiny of every man and woman of all time. This passage leaves no room for us to wonder about who Christ really is: either he is the Lord of life and history as he claims to be, or he is a lunatic, and the testimony of the Church throughout the last twenty centuries (first of all, its mere longevity, but also the contribution of wisdom and holiness it has made to human culture) eliminates the lunatic option. Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; he alone is the Holy One and the Most High, as we proclaim every Sunday when we sing the Gloria at Mass. He is worthy of our allegiance.
Yet, once again he shows that his Lordship is not only grand and majestic, but intimate and accessible. He is a King who identifies himself with each one of his subjects. In fact, he is present in every person. His love is so total, so unabashed, so reckless, that it propels his very self into every human heart. In a mysterious way, he dwells in each one of us. The revolution that this Lord proclaims happens every time we act in accordance with this amazing truth.
Christ the Teacher He is also the most generous of teachers. At the end of life we will all have to take a final exam, the only exam that really matters. Christ is the examiner, and in this passage he gives us ahead of time not only the questions on the exam, but also the answers.
This lesson uncovers the most precious truth of all, the pearl of great price that men and women have searched for since the very beginning: the meaning of life. In the end, all that will matter is what we have done for Christ and our neighbor. We will not be asked how much money we made, how many awards we won, how famous we became, how many discoveries we made, how many achievements we accomplished, how much we enjoyed ourselves, or how many people we had working under us. We will be asked one question: “What did you do for me in your neighbor?” Christ teaches us repeatedly in the Gospels by word and example that the secret to happiness in this life and the life to come is self-giving, self-forgetful love, serving the spiritual and material needs of our brothers and sisters, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ. Only self-giving – the mark of authentic love – counteracts the epidemic of self-centeredness, self-indulgence, and self-sufficiency that has scourged the human family ever since the fall.
This third parable specifically references the final judgment at the Second Coming, after the destruction of the cosmos and the end of history. The parable of the bridesmaids applied more directly to the destruction of Jerusalem in the apostolic age, and that of the talents focused on the experience of the individual soul at the moment of death. With this parable, Jesus completes his briefing to the apostles about what the future has in store.
Christ the Friend Our God does not sit idly by as we struggle through life, waiting to pass judgment on all our failings. True, judgment will come, because God is fair, but Jesus Christ does all he can to prepare each of us ahead of time. In the first place, he came to earth; he became one of us, so that he could teach us using words and actions that we would understand. Secondly, he stays with us “until the end of time” (Matthew 28:20) through the ministry of his Church. The Church makes his teachings ring out in every age and place, constantly reminding us of the gospel’s saving truths; through her the Holy Spirit vivifies the sacraments in order to bring each of her children into intimate friendship with God; above all, through her Christ stays literally at our side in the Eucharist, accompanying us patiently and lovingly in every tabernacle throughout the world. In this way, he hopes to make the Last Judgment a joyful reunion of intimate friends, not a surprise encounter between hostile strangers.
Christ in My Life I know you ascended in heaven after your resurrection, Lord. I know that you are there now, interceding for me and guiding your Church through the Holy Spirit. And yet, you tell me that you are still present in my heart, and in the hearts of all my brothers and sisters here on earth. I can never grasp this truth with my own intelligence. Teach me, Lord. May your grace open the eyes of my soul to see you as you really are…
How could you have been clearer? You care about how I treat my neighbor, what I do for those around me. It seems so burdensome to live with my attention focused on others. I have so many needs, desires, and dreams of my own! But what matters most is not what I do, but who I am. Am I someone who loves, who gives, who serves? Self-giving is the one law of heaven. If I can’t learn to obey it now, I won’t ever want to obey it later…
In the end, you will make all things right. All the injustice and misery of the world will not escape your goodness and your power. I believe that you will come again, to judge, to rule, and to set things right. You wouldn’t have promised this if you weren’t planning on doing it. Help me to prepare for that day, and to help everyone around me prepare as well…
PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.
About Fr. John Bartunek, LC
Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller “Inside the Passion”–the only authorized, behind-the-scene explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican’s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known book is called: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”. He has also published four other titles: “Seeking First the Kingdom”, “Answers: Catholic Advice for Your Spiritual Questions”, “Meditations for Mothers”, and “A Guide to Christian Meditation”. Fr. John currently splits his time between Rome and Rhode Island, where he teaches theology as an adjunct professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and at Mater Ecclesia College. He is also continuing his writing apostolate with online retreats at www.RCSpirituality.org and questions and answers on the spiritual life at www.RCSpiritualDirection.com. FATHER JOHN’S BOOKS include: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”, “Inside the Passion”–The Only Authorized Insiders View of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, “Meditations for Mothers”, and “A Guide to Christian Meditation”.
