You Did It To Me

The parable of the sheep and goats (Mat 25: 31-46) is a reminder that our devotion to God by faithfully reciting prayers and attending masses only fulfills part of the commandment and the other half is loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus clearly says that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” and “whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

So whatever good or harm that we do; or the good we omit to do for our fellow human being– we do it to Jesus! Going to church praying means nothing if you do not live by His word because “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).

In the parable, sheep are called to enter the gates of heaven while the goats are sent to “eternal fire”. Sheep are docile, vulnerable, defenseless and they listen to the Shepherds voice unlike goats that are stubborn, independent, curious and destructive. In the parable, sheep are us – who do the will of God whereas goats are also us-who are headstrong going about our own way not heeding His word nor the prompting of the spirit and cause a lot of destruction. Are we goats or sheep? We can choose to be either one.

In the story of the Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson, a poor, barefooted, hungry little girl tries selling matches on a busy street on New Year’s Eve. It is a cold winter- everyone was busy and she was ignored and looked upon with contempt. Their hearts were as cold as the winter. During those times begging was illegal and families sold matches to survive. The little girl so afraid to go back without selling anything, dies in the cold. We are told through her visions that she longed to be with her dead grandma- the one person who truly loved her.

“We do not see the world as it is, we see it as we are” (Anais Nin). That is why we fail to see the pain, hunger, loneliness and nakedness in it. We fail to see Jesus in our midst. We do not see people begging on our streets today but there so many dying for a little kindness, compassion, generosity, patience and mercy. As Mother Theresa says “the most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved”. We need to open the eyes of hearts to see the world as it is and we will find Jesus in our midst.

On the day of judgement He will say “you did it to me”. We will be judged not only for what we do but also for what we did not do. We will be judged for being indifferent to the needs of our fellow human being. Mother Theresa reminds us that “a life not lived for others is not a life”. – SR

Good works are links that form a chain of love

Saint Teresa of Calcutta