Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 11, 2019
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.”
When was the last time someone asked you for spare change? What was the color of his eyes, or the sound of her voice? Do you remember?
“…whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” The Gospel startles us today with God’s intimacy amidst human weakness: when you and I attend to the hungry, the stranger, the infirmed, or the incarcerated in love, you and I love Christ. When you and I fail to attend to the hungry, the stranger, the infirmed, or the incarcerated in love, you and I reject Christ.
“Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty[?]” Jesus’ parable humbles us with a twofold surprise: I do not yet know all the ways I willfully neglect Christ-my-neighbor; simultaneously, I do not yet know how even the most insignificant acts of love have delighted Christ-my-neighbor. If, then, we tend to the sheepfold of the kingdom of God by learning how to repent of our unexpected failures and how to celebrate our unexpected victories of love, then what is discipleship? Based on Jesus’ parable, the answer is simple: learning how to be surprised.
For our God is a God of surprise. Crucified, dead, and buried, God shocks us in the depths of his solidarity with our sin-laden lives. Risen, ascended, and glorified, God empties out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, adopting us into eternal levity and life.
Continue to search for this God. Find him hidden in plain sight: Christ the friend and Christ the enemy, Christ the stranger and Christ the estranged, Christ the bed-ridden and Christ the death row inmate, Christ the wife and Christ the husband. For the mystery of God in Christ is also the mystery of our human particularity: the glint of his eyes, the timbre of her voice.
Ultimately, it is not God’s distance that frightens us, but his intimacy.
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
St. Teresa Margaret Redi, also known as Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, is one of seven discalced Carmelite religious women who has been declared a saint. She was an intensely spiritual and private religious, who devoted her life to quiet prayer in service of the love of God.
Teresa was born in the Italian city of Arezzo in 1747, to a wealthy, noble family. Her baptismal name was Anna Maria Redi. At the age of nine, she was sent to a Benedictine boarding school in Florence. Her course was decided by the example of one of her older schoolmates. One of the girls who had graduated from the boarding school several years before approached one of Anna Maria's teachers to thank her for the education and the Christian formation, as she was entering the Carmelites. Anna Maria saw the deep joy on this young woman's face and instantly knew that she, too, desired to enter the Carmelites. Anna Maria, like many saints on fire with God, decided to pursue joy.
In the spring of 1764, Anna Maria returned home and began to live as a Carmelite in her own home, to practice the disciplines of the order. That September, she applied to the Monastery of St. Teresa in Florence. She was admitted that November. She took the name Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart and professed her vows in March of 1766.
Teresa was assigned the role of community nurse, and she tenderly cared for the suffering sisters in her care, particularly those experiencing mental illness. Teresa devoted herself to caring for her fellow sisters and cultivating her robust interior life. As a Carmelite sister, Teresa maintained the disposition of joy that drew her to the order, despite rebukes and harsh treatment. She continually repeated the phrase from 1 John 4:8: "God is love," and received deep insight into it in prayer.
Teresa died at the age of twenty-three, on March 11, 1770, in the midst of an outbreak of a disease in the monastery. She continued caring for other ill nuns until she reached her deathbed. Teresa's body, swollen from disease, at the time of her funeral, had miraculously been restored to its healthy form.
St. Teresa Margaret Redi, mystic and Carmelite, who fully embodied the truth that "God is love"—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Teresa Margaret Redi is in the public domain. Last accessed February 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
