Consider her powerful words referencing our Gospel passage today: “In order to help us deserve heaven, Christ set a condition: that at the moment of our death you and I, whoever we might have been and wherever we have lived, Christians and non-Christians alike, every human being who has been created by the loving hand of God in his own image shall stand in his presence and be judged according to what we have been for the poor, what we have done for them…”
Lent is a season of preparation. Just like the season of Advent prepares our minds and hearts for Christmas, the season of Lent prepares our minds and hearts for Easter. But what we do during this Lent also has eternal ramifications. Lent helps us prepare, not just for Easter 2017. Our reading today, reminds us that Lent helps us prepare for judgment, helps us to prepare for meeting the Christ the Judge.
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are not only important for Lent, but for the entire Christian life; they are probably the most three important activities in the life of the Christian. Everything boils down to these three activities.
And particularly almsgiving. The life of charity, the life of mercy, are fundamental to the Christian way of life. The Catechism even says, “The works of mercy are not optional but are absolutely essential to living the Christian life of holiness and goodness.”
In opening the year of Mercy, Pope Francis echoed this teaching. He said, “It is absolutely essential for the Church and for the credibility of her message that she herself live and testify to mercy. Her language and her gestures must transmit mercy, so as to touch the hearts of all people and inspire them once more to find the road that leads to the Father.”
Let us consider how the Lord is calling us to engage more deeply in Lenten almsgiving, by reflecting once more on the words of the Holy Father: We cannot escape the Lord’s words to us, and they will serve as the criteria upon which we will be judged: whether we have fed the hungry and given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger and clothed the naked, or spent time with the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-45). Moreover, we will be asked if we have helped others to escape the doubt that causes them to fall into despair and which is often a source of loneliness; if we have helped to overcome the ignorance in which millions of people live, especially children deprived of the necessary means to free them from the bonds of poverty; if we have been close to the lonely and afflicted; if we have forgiven those who have offended us and have rejected all forms of anger and hate that lead to violence; if we have had the kind of patience God shows, who is so patient with us; and if we have commended our brothers and sisters to the Lord in prayer.”
May we respond generously to the call to Lenten almsgiving, to the works of mercy, for the glory of God and salvation of souls
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For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.
For mercy for the most vulnerable of our human family, the unborn; that their mothers may choose life and be supported by a culture of life.
For the young people of our Church. May they be strengthened to be witnesses to the Gospel of mercy and work for a future that embodies a genuine culture of mercy.
For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ. We pray to the Lord.
For the engaged couples attending our parish’s Pre-Cana Day this weekend, that the Lord will increase in them His gifts of love to prepare them rightly and chastely for the sacrament of marriage, and for a strengthening of all marriages. We pray to the Lord.
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