Reflection for March 10 Monday of the First Week of Lent: Matthew 25:31-46

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:

What is the significance of this Gospel in our lives? It encourages us to make Jesus the center and King of our lives; it persuades us to make Jesus the priority of our lives. In other words, before anything else, it must be Jesus first. 

But look at what is happening now—Jesus is the least priority for some of us. We need no factual statistics to validate this; we simply need to look at the attendance at Holy Mass. We observe the spiraling crime rate, corporate greed, and the massive destruction of the environment, which results in calamitous disasters and flooding. There is also political corruption and the arrogance of many politicians, and so forth. 

Obviously, the Kingship of Christ is nowhere in their hearts. The kingship of Jesus is eroded by the kingship of materialism, greed, and arrogance. 

Would we allow this erosion of the Kingship of Jesus in favor of the kingship of the secular world, which Satan represents? We must not allow this to happen! We, who are followers of Christ, must see to it that He is always part and parcel of our daily lives. We may not verbally preach Him, but we must learn to preach Him through our daily lives. 

Saint Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; use words if necessary.” This means that we must live the Gospel in every moment of our lives. By doing so, we would be perpetuating the Kingship of Christ in this world. But this is seldom done now. What is often preached instead is greed, materialism, arrogance, and other forms of destructive secular teachings. 

We are therefore being challenged by Jesus to help Him become more relevant in this present world. Now more than ever, the world needs Jesus—His values and His teachings. Let us not run away from this responsibility that Jesus gave us. Let us live Him, embrace Him, and share Him. 

Can we measure up to this challenge? — Marino J. Dasmarinas