Sheep or Goat?

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Upon reading today's gospel, I found myself thinking, "This is where I'm going to be in trouble."

The nations, assembled before Christ, separated into sheep and goats say to Jesus:
"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?"

And Jesus says to them: "Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me."

I often think about the corporal works of mercy, specifically clothing the naked and feeding the hungry and wonder when I'm going to get around to that. If I died today, I think I'd be sunk.

Each day of my life I literally feed hungry people and clothe naked people, but I'm not really doing what Christ says. They are not truly hungry people or truly naked people. Yet, I'm so busy slinging breakfast, lunch and dinner, and washing underwear and socks that I'm afraid I might not get around to the truly hungry and naked.

Yet, today, while doing my morning prayers, I found a glimmer of hope. In a book sent to us by our parish, for Lenten reflection (Becoming Holy, Becoming Whole), I read:

We are offered opportunities every day to feed the hungry -- not just in our soup kitchens, but in our homes, in our schools, in our places of business. People around us thirst, not just for water, but also for knowledge, for acceptance, for support, and we offer them a drink. And in the process we become holy.

Thank goodness. That I can do. Maybe those I come in contact with today need a kind word to warm them inside, or fill a hunger I don't know exists. My words can be their food, their warm coat.

Don't pass up an opportunity to feed those souls today -- to show them God's goodness in humanity.


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