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26/6/2016
26/11/2017 -  S. Christ the King - A

26/11/2017 -  S. Christ the King - A

Reading 1, Ezekiel 34,11-12.15-17 * Psalm 22 * Reading 2, First Corinthians 15,20-26.28 * Gospel, Matthew 25,31-46

 

Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it”. This is what the Lord says through the prophet Ezekiel. The Messiah has been sent to accomplish the works that God promises to the men’s advantage! He behaves like a shepherd: first of all he gathers the sheep and he makes sure that all of them are there. Otherwise, he sets off to find “the stray” ones. His eye is vigil and truthful: he really knows which ones are his, and which ones are not, and he separates them. He does not want any confusion: how can the Messiah, the Son of Man, decide? In his case, Jesus uses the title of king as well, king of the kingdom that has been prepared since the beginning, that has been thought for whoever is faithful to Him, a kingdom in which good is not confused with evil, desire of supporting Him with refusal, obedience to God with disobedience, similarity to God with dissimilarity. Here is the son of Man then, him who is the Son of the Father and king, after having gathered “all nations”, starting to separate the ones from the others. What does this king take into account in order to judge the peoples, those who know and do not even know Him alike? We find really surprising that he is not taking into account the hours spent in prayer, the big fastings, and not even those great achievements to humanity’s advantage, and we are astonished that He identified Himself with those in need of the most basic things and declared Himself benefitted by strangers. Whoever is wanting food, drinks, clothes, health, a country to call home, freedom and fullness of humanity, those are the image of God that has to be adored and contemplated. The behavior that each one has adopted towards them is the principle used in order to understand who is good and who is not: as a matter of fact, whoever shows mercy towards those people, loves the one who gave his life for them; whoever takes care of them glorifies God because they fulfill His love. The “destined to be a sign that is opposed”, distinguishing man from man, is always and only Jesus, the Son of the living God: but he hides himself in whoever needs attention, care, love. In this way is possible to see who has a selfless love for Him, that is to say who has true love in their heart. Whoever turns to them to heal them, bandage them, feed them, visit them, welcome them with intelligence and wisdom, they fulfill the Father’s love, that love the Ezekiel describes in the pages we just heard. They are the cooperators of the Messiah, the one sent by God, they are the Christ’s tender hand, they can be recognized as members of His body that brings in the world the love of the living God. By loving with the love that the Father puts in His children’s heart, they reveal the true face of God!

We are still surprised by the way in which the parable continues: the king, who is so good and generous, behaves really strictly instead towards those that put every effort into loving only themselves, minding their own businesses and being blind to the necessities of the poor. They did not behave like brothers, and then they cannot be welcomed and mingle with the children of God. Their fate is the one gained through selfishness: selfishness produces sufferings, breaks communion, generates solitude, makes people cry and throws into anguish even its children and benefactors. Those who cultivate it shutting their eyes, ears and hands in front of the sufferers, will gain those sufferings as “eternal punishment”.

We talk about God’s mercy, Nobody, as a matter of fact, is as merciful as him, who keeps his heart open for everybody and is ready to forgive even the most serious of the sins that man can possibly have committed. Jesus’ parable tells us though that we cannot content ourselves of our selfishness, otherwise we will not be able to accept even the great mercy of the Father! He cannot treat men like puppets: he respects our choices. If we choose selfishness, we will get the fruit of selfishness in the end, that is to say lack of the communion of the love, which is the final and eternal suffering. The Father’s mercy towards selfish and immoral people will find a way for them to search for salvation, and then, as a first step, they will be put in a situation in which they will have to suffer in order to be almost compelled into repenting!

The fact that God is merciful opens our hearts to receive his forgiveness, but also to put our eyes, our hands, our hearts and our wealth at his heart’s disposal, attentive to every person that is suffering lack of life, deprivation of both the bread for the body and the bread for the soul.

In this way the victory of the Lord of life begins, him who has risen from the dead, the victory over that enemy who, as the apostle writes, keeps us in fear and suffering! With our concrete love towards the sufferers begins the victory of Jesus over death, or, even better, death keeps being beaten! In the union with Jesus we ourselves are victorious: and our joy becomes hope for many, an anticipation of future benefits, the demonstration that God is love, is love for everybody, both for whom is waiting for him and for whom does not even know Him!

Jesus, king of the universe, you will be above all the king of my heart: I adore you, I love you, I want to serve and follow you!