Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
(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 brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those
on 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 these least
ones, you did not do for me. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but
the righteous to eternal life."
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Reflection:
A politician
wanted to be the king of his town. So he said to himself: I need all the money
that I could have so that I could use it for my campaign this coming election.
To hasten his plan he aligned himself with the rich and rub elbows with them
with the end in mind that they would contribute to his election campaign.
While
planning for his campaign strategy his wife asked him, what are you going to do
with the poor who comprise the majority of this town? The ambitious politician
said to his wife, don’t worry I will pretend that I am one with them so
that I could use them and have their votes.
Today is
the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King! What is the difference of Jesus
kingship to this ambitious politician? The divergence between Jesus’ kingship and
the kingship of this ambitious politician and ours too is like heaven and
earth.
Our
mindset of kingship is one that dabbles in lavishness and one that craves for
respect and adulation. The kingship of Jesus dwells in humility, simplicity and
service. Our mindset of kingship is to use the poor to serve our selfish ends
the kingship of Jesus is to serve the poor without any ulterior motives
whatsoever. The earthly kingship that many of us and our politicians aspire for
is a total contradiction with the Kingship of Jesus.
Come to
think of it, what if we all align our understanding of kingship with the
kingship of Jesus? The world that we are presently in would become a much
better place to live. There would be no greed and corruption in government most especially there would be equality and no discrimination. There would be no more hunger
because the poor would be properly taken care of but
this is like wishing for the moon right now.
Each and
everyone of us has his/her little kingdoms to administer. Say for example if
you’re a parent or a bread winner, your kingdom is your home. If you’re a priest
your kingdom is your parish, if you’re a politician your kingdom is your town.
Do you
use the humble and selfless Kingship of Jesus in managing and leading your
little kingdom? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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