Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 27, 2023
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”
Mondays can be hard. After the festivity of a weekend gathering, the frenetic but fun Saturday games and tournaments, and the sustenance of a Sunday well spent—Monday mornings can feel stark and jarring.
During my youth, when the fun was about to end, and it was time to get back to work, I often heard two phrases from my mom that signaled this abrupt transition: “the party’s over” and “it’s time to buckle down.”
Feelings like these can be amplified on this particular Monday—the first one in Lent, a time of repentance and fasting. We are only at the beginning of what at this moment seems like a long road to the empty tomb.
Today’s gospel lends insight for navigating from a Monday morning in late February to the first rays of sun on Easter morning. The guidance is simple: do not be overly concerned with ritual practices, worship, and prayer; pay closer attention to the poor, the suffering, and those in need.
Rather than attending to our wants and needs or pursuing personal holiness in the church to the exclusion of others, the key to salvation is mercy shown to the least of our brothers and sisters. Far from abstract or ephemeral, Jesus’ teaching language is concrete and action-oriented: welcome strangers, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, care for the sick and imprisoned, and provide clothing to those in need. Are we responding to these needs in our parish, neighborhood, schools, and communities?
It’s only Monday, but the demands to guide these Lenten days are clear: to know the Lord, we must reach beyond ourselves and actively find ways to minister to others.
Prayer
Lord of love, suffering abounds in our world. Give us true, merciful, and compassionate hearts that do not ignore the poor, sick, and ignorant, nor view them as the enemy. Give us your grace to live the commandment of love: to love our neighbor as ourselves, for what we do to them we do to Christ your Son. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Venerable Henriette Díaz DeLille is one of six Black Americans, including Julia Greeley and Venerable Pierre Toussaint, who is on the path towards officially being recognized as saints in the Roman Catholic Church. Ven. Henriette does not yet have an official feast day, so she is featured here today in celebration of Black History Month.
Mother Henriette was the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family in the city of New Orleans. She was born in 1813, to a mother who was a free woman of color, Marie-Josèphe. Her mother lived with a man named Jean-Baptiste, in what was known as the plaçage system. Through the plaçage system, white men lived in common-law—as opposed to civil or sacramental—marriages with women of color. Henriette grew up with her siblings in New Orleans' French Quarter. Her mother raised them Roman Catholic, and educated Henriette to be an accomplished young woman, in preparation for her own marriage to a wealthy patron. But Henriette had different plans for herself. She wanted to bring education to the poor girls of New Orleans and began teaching children around the city when she was still a teenager.
In 1835, Henriette's mother had a nervous breakdown, and Henriette inherited all her mother's assets. Henriette set aside enough money to continue caring for her mentally ill mother and then sold all of her mother's remaining property. With the proceeds of this sale, Henriette began her own religious congregation, which she named the Sisters of the Presentation, later renamed the Sisters of the Holy Family. The Sisters of the Holy Family, to this day, operate schools, nursing homes, and retirement communities for those in need throughout the Southern USA.
Henriette DeLille died in 1862, in the midst of the civil war. Her cause for canonization was opened in 1988, and Pope Benedict XVI declared her "venerable" on March 27, 2010.
Venerable Henriette Díaz DeLille, American witness to holiness—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Henriette Díaz DeLille is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
