NOT ME BUT THEM

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING

Ez.34:11-12,15-17; Ps.23; 1 Cor.15:20-26,28; Mt.25:31-46

We are only counting the days, and soon we can see and hear in the news predictions about the future. What will happen next year? Will there be a breakup of another showbiz couple? Will there be another major political issue in our government? Or we might ask personal questions like, Will I still be married to this lazy husband or to this noisy wife? Will I have grandchildren next year? Will my son or daughter graduate from school? We do not know what will happen in the future. That is why our natural tendency is to prepare for tomorrow. Parents work hard for their children to have a stable future. Students diligently study so that they can have a secured tomorrow. Professionals save from their income in preparation for their marriage or their future retirement. In short, we prepare for the uncertain future. And if we try to examine all our preparations, we realize that they are all directed to ourselves! We work hard and invest our time and talent all for our own selves.

However, our Gospel today which is taken from Matthew, which is also the last discourse of Jesus before he enters into his passion and death, already tells us of what will happen in the future, in the end of everything. “The Son of Man will come in glory and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. Then he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” There will be a judgment of all nations! And what is the criteria? It’s not on how much have we saved in the bank. It’s not on how successful we are in our business. It’s not on how stable and secure we are in life. It is all about the OTHER! It is all about our NEIGHBOR—who was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, ill, and in prison. St. John of the Cross has reminded us that “in the end of our lives, we will be judged according to love.” This love is not directed to the self but to the other. And how is this love expressed? Not through marvelous things but small things like feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming a stranger, clothing a naked, and visiting the sick or those in prison.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King! Christ became a King not because he owned a palace or had a great number of soldiers. Christ became a King because of the many simple and unrecognized acts of mercy and compassion he has done to the five thousand hungry men, to the thirsting Samaritan woman, to the weeping widow at Naim, to his friend in Bethany, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and to the sinful and unworthy you and me! Christ prepared for the uncertain future by thinking and acting not for himself but others. His entire life was lived for others even unto death. To human’s deepest poverty, which is separation from God, Jesus brought God as he was himself God.

This is therefore our challenge today, that we prepare for the future not just solely for ourselves but also for others. If we are working hard for our family, may we also include the plight of other families. If we are saving for a secure tomorrow, may we never fail our present obligation to share and donate for charity. May we become an all-inclusive family, community, and Church rather than an exclusive and closed one! Let us make God present in our world through our small acts of mercy and compassion.

Let us prepare for the future by following the shepherd mentioned in our first reading and responsorial psalm today who “finds himself among his scattered sheep, who rescues them from every place where they are scattered, who brings them besides restful waters, and who spreads the table before the sight of the enemies.” The shepherd worked not for himself but for his sheep. Jesus lived in this world not for himself but for others. We too are called to live the present in view of the future not for ourselves but for others.

Mother Teresa once said: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” Let us begin to do small things with great love so that our future will not only become stable and secured but rest in the heavenly throne of Jesus, the King!

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

Photo taken from http://livingtheword.org.nz/