Homily: Monday of the 1st Week of Lent 2016 - Lenten Mercy

At the election of a new Pope, the Cardinals of the Church gather in the Sistine Chapel whose walls and ceilings are adorned with some of the most beautiful frescos in the world—painted by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo in the late 1530s.  After serious prayer, the Cardinals walk towards the altar to cast their vote for the new Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church of God. Above that altar is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity, the scene we just heard in the Gospel, “The Last Judgment”.

The Cardinals are reminded by that great biblical scene that their vote must not be motivated by selfishness or ambition, for they will face Christ as Judge on that final day, and will have to answer for the choices they made.

Holy Mother Church presents us with this scene on this Monday of the first full week of Lent.  How will we make use of the time we have been given? Will we repent? Are we motivated by laziness or authentic desire for conversion? Will we seek to become a saint this Lent, or be happy with remaining a sinner?

What separates the saints from the sinners in today’s Gospel? How each treated his fellow man while on earth. This of course makes us think of our Lenten observance of almsgiving.  Pope Francis seems to take this Gospel very seriously. He has called us during this Lent, and this Year of Mercy, to engage in the works of mercy listed by our Lord today as the requirements for entrance into heaven: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, caring for the sick.

Rather than just looking out for ourselves, like the goats in the Gospel, we are to look to the needs of others and help them as we can. We intensify our almsgiving in Lent as a way of preparing for the rest of the year, as almsgiving is constitutive to the year-round Christian life.

For some of us Lenten almsgiving means putting a little extra into the envelope on Sunday, or writing an extra check each week to a charity of our choice. Better yet, it might mean giving up more of our time in caring for a poor widowed neighbor.  Whatever we give, though, should be something that costs us.  It should be a sacrifice, something that we would miss, to remind us of the great sacrifice Christ offered for us, the sacrifice of his body and blood on the cross, for our salvation, to prepare us for the self-giving which needs to characterize our entire life in Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.