The Gospel for Monday of the first week of Lent is taken from Matthew 25th, chapter 31st to the 46th verse. 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. 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 the right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 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 clothed 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. 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. The meaning is clear, that we need, if we wish to enter the kingdom of God, to care for one another. But the depth of this passage is really much more than that. It is saying that the things we do to each other, we do to God.

When you think about that, it radically changes our relationship with each other. Because we realize, how can we possibly worship God when we’re angry at or want to destroy someone? Everything is interconnected. When we love each other, we’re loving God. When we hate each other, we are hating God. It’s a terrifying thought in one sense, but it’s also such a strong motive, such a clear image of how it is that God wants us to love him.

He doesn’t need our love. He needs us to love one another. Please pause and reflect upon these images. And then I will close with a prayer. Sa Sam Foreign Father, open us to this mystery of interconnectedness. Everything is one.

What we do to our brothers and sisters, we do to ourselves. What we do to our brothers and sisters, we also do to God. It’s all one. It’s all connected. Open our eyes to see and feel this great mystery. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.