As we continue our Lenten journey, we praise the Lord and we thank him for giving us so much food for thought. Yesterday during Mass, in speaking to us about temptation and about our strategic dealing with it when it comes to the three ways in which we are tempted: by the world around us, by what is within us, our fallen human nature, and by the evil one. And we asked, well, how would Jesus do it? And we saw from the Gospel how Jesus in the desert was tempted by Satan, and he resisted because he was connected to the Father.
In today's readings, we have Moses, who's speaking to the people that God has just liberated from Egypt, and he's giving them rules to abide by so as to be able to treat each other with utmost dignity and to also pledge their allegiance to the Lord, their God, who alone was God. And so now we're dealing with the Ten Commandments. And here we have Moses, who begins by declaring in the name of the Lord what he had heard from God. “Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). “You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of the LORD your God. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:11–12). And the reading goes on beautifully to give us indications of what we are not to do. And we're also given to understand that all of it amounts in loving our neighbor as ourself. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
Now, in our Lenten journey, we can ask ourselves, well, how am I treating others? How am I in terms of my generosity towards those who might need me? Am I available to talk to somebody who is in need? Am I available to give them of my time? Am I ready to walk the extra mile with them? Our Lord, in today's Gospel, makes one thing very clear, that what we do to other people, we do to him, and he will remind us of that on the last day 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 then 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” (Matthew 25:34–36). 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?” (Matthew 25:37–39). 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” (Matthew 25:40).
My brothers and sisters, how important is it to see Jesus in our brothers and sisters, but to see Jesus beyond the veil of the humanity and the fragility and the weakness of our brothers and sisters. We need to spend time before him in the Eucharist and when we spend time penetrating that veil of the flesh which is the Eucharist, to see beyond that veil the Lord God of Hosts, then we will be able to go beyond the exterior appearance of people and see Jesus in them. And this too is a major part of our Lenten walk together. To this end, may our Blessed Mother intercede for you, and may Almighty God bless you in a very special way. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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