There is perhaps no passage in the Gospels which stirs us more deeply than Saint Matthew’s account of the Last Judgment. In the mysterious story of the king who will gather all the nations before him, separating good from bad as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, Jesus gave us his own vision of the meaning of human life. What matters in the end is love expressed in action for those in need. Jesus accepts as done to himself whatever we do to our neighbor.

Come, you whom my Father has blessed…For I was hungry and you gave me food…Go away from me…For I was hungry and you never gave me food. (Matthew 25:34,35,41,42)

With good reason we cannot be indifferent to anyone who lacks the necessities of life. As our knowledge and love of God grow, so does our concern to respond as fully as we can to Jesus in what Mother Teresa of Calcutta calls “his most distressing disguise.”

–Mary Evelyn Jegen, SND, How You Can Be a Peacemaker