GROW AS A DISCIPLE | PRAY, STUDY, ENGAGE, SERVE
GROW: Today, we acknowledge and celebrate Christ the King. It’s hard to put this royal image together with today’s Gospel passage, where Jesus is not asking to be treated like a king, but rather instructing us to perform merciful deeds for the least of his brothers and sisters. Yet it is the perfect follow-on to the previous three Sundays’ Scriptures, where Jesus tells us what it means to live a life of holiness, preparation, and faithful investment in the Kingdom. Now we see what awaits those of us who turn over our lives to him, seeing the face of Jesus in the least among us – the poor, the imprisoned, the thirsty, the stranger. “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
GO EVANGELIZE | PRAYER, INVITATION, WITNESS, ACCOMPANIMENT
GO: I confess that judgment day readings scare me a little. Some days I behave more like a “goat” than a “sheep.” Side note: After a deep dive into the Internet (did you know that sheep have 54 chromosomes and goats have 60?), I’ve concluded that Jesus isn’t talking about farm animals here. He’s talking about us humans and the choices we make or don’t make through sins of omission. The list seems endless if I focus on all the things I could be doing to help others each and every day. Yet, rather than getting caught up in fear or guilt, today’s readings encourage me, and remind me, that Jesus has told us what we need to do to be counted as “sheep” on the last day.
ACTIONS:
• Choose one corporal work of mercy today and act on it. What does it look like to “visit the sick”? Donate blood; make food for someone who isn’t feeling well; check in on an elderly neighbor.
• Do you know some “sheep” – people who radiate faith and kindness to others? Just as you might network with a professional in your field, invite that person out for coffee. Ask them about their faith and how it inspires them in their daily lives.