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March 2, 2020The Corporal Works of Mercy Are the Heart of the Gospel
I have a friend of many years, George, who lives in a penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. George no longer goes to Church, but he organizes a soup kitchen crew every third Sunday for St. Francis Xavier Church on the Lower West Side. I told him once, ‘George, though you don’t go to church you certainly live out that Gospel from Matthew that says when you fed the hungry and poor you did it for me.’ He responded, ‘Oh, I don’t do it for Christ, I do it because they are hungry.’
Surprised?! Everyone is surprised at the Last Judgment, both the sheep who did feed the hungry and the goats who did not. They both say, ‘When did we see you…? To the sheep, the King says, ‘Come O blessed of my Father…’ ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.’ To the goats, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’ ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ Happy and sad to ponder their fate. ‘The Corporal Works of Mercy,’ are not optional for salvation. Salvation is a heart and hands-on journey.
Today is the first Monday in Lent when we focus on ‘Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.’ What is better, giving up chocolate or sharing it with someone who can’t afford it? Giving up Scotch or taking the money to buy some clothes for a poor person? Going to Mass every day, but not meeting a new person or asking someone we know who looks troubled, ‘Is there anything I can do,’ and/or just listen to them? We need to pray and hear this Gospel and put it into practice. In these actions, we respond to the gift of salvation.
