Gospel: February 19, 2024
February 19, 2024 (Monday)
1st Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 1 (Violet)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 19: 8, 9, 10, 15
Your words, Lord are Spirit and life.
1st Reading: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them: Be holy for I, Yahweh, your God, am holy. Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name so as to profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh. Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbor fairly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbor; I am Yahweh. Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbor frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46
When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all his angels, he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be brought before him; and, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will he do with them, placing the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.
The king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me into your home. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to see me.’
Then the righteous will ask him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and give you food; thirsty, and give you something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome you; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and go to see you?’ The king will answer, ‘Truly I say to you: just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it to me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of my sight, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the evil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’
They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ The king will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you: just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
And these will go into eternal punishment; but the just, to eternal life.”
Reflection: “Loving the other”
We strive letting go of our negative attitudes because our true nature is characterized by goodness. Moreover, our nature bears witness to a reality bigger than ourselves, either in the here and now or in the life hereafter. Lent invites us to become more sensitive to such reality. Loving the other as conveyed by the first reading (cf. Lev. 19:18) is part of the bigger reality we refer to. Loving the other is a great challenge to every Christian. Today’s Gospel passage is part of the so-called eschatological discourse in Matthew. Jesus describes that in the end time there will be a separation between those who have shown love to the disadvantaged other and those who have despised the disadvantageous. Jesus uses the imagery of the separation between the sheep and the goats. It is interesting to reflect on the nature of the sheep as disadvantageous animals compared to the goats. The disadvantageous then are the ones who can challenge us to see beyond the self. By implication, they are also the ones to tell who shall be on God’s right side in the eschatological age.
