THE VERY HEART OF JESUS' TEACHING
It must have been a
wonderful thing to have lived with Jesus while He was on earth. What a great
privilege it was for Peter, James, John, and the other Apostles, to have known
our Lord so personally and intimately. Naturally, we wish we could have lived during
that time as well, and I think we feel that we would have been completely
devoted to Him.
Actually, many people who lived with
Jesus, either did not recognize Him, or failed to respond to Him. And, today,
it may be that we, too, sometimes fail to recognize Him and respond to Him.
However, we do not have to wish that we could have lived during the time of our
Lord. The truth is that He is living among us right now. He is present in this
world, not only in the Eucharist, but also in the people with whom we encounter
each day. He is all around us.
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that
what we do to one of His brothers, we do to Him. It's important to notice that
He does not say it is as if we do it to Him, or that He will consider what we
do to others as done to Him. We must not water down the truth. Jesus lives in
others. What we do to them, we do to Jesus. The first reading gives us many
practical directives for dealing with people, all of which are summed up in the
one Commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Among
the Old Testament people, the word "neighbor" was understood as
referring to a fellow Israelite. Jesus gave two new dimensions to this
Commandment. First, neighbor was meant to include everyone, and, secondly,
Jesus lives in the hearts of our fellow human beings - our neighbors.
Living in the fourth century, Martin of
Tours was a young Roman soldier and seeker of the Christian faith as a
catechumen. One evening, he met an unclothed man begging for alms in the
freezing cold. Martin stopped, cut his coat in two, and gave half to the
stranger. That night, he dreamt he had seen the heavenly court, with Jesus
robed in the torn cloak. One of the angels present asked, "Master, why do
You wear that battered cloak?" Jesus replied, "My servant, Martin,
gave it to Me." As a result of this vision, Martin "flew to be
baptized." God is gracious and merciful; His love compels us to treat
others with mercy and kindness. When we do something for one of Jesus' little
ones, we do it for Him. How beautiful!
There is no sense in daydreaming about
how much we love Jesus or in imagining all the great things we would like to do
for Him. "It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation"
(Preface - Eucharistic Prayer II) to seek Christ here, in the Eucharist - His
Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. And He remains with us! His Spirit dwells in
the hearts of those around us, and in the people we meet every day. When our
time comes to leave this world and face God, Jesus will want to know whether we
have loved Him, not only by our worship of Him in the Liturgy, but also in
finding Him and serving Him in our fellow human beings.
Throughout Lent, we do well in praying
to God at Mass, and this is always necessary. At the end of Mass we hear the
words, "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord, by your life." Indeed, we will fulfill these words if we go
forth to serve others for the love of God!