God demands holiness which can be attained by
treating our neighbors with love. Christ tells us in the gospel that our relationship
with our neighbors goes a long way to define our destiny on the judgment day
when “the sheep will be separated from the goats”. According to Matthew
25:31-46, on the last day, judgment shall be based on our earthly attitude to those
things we are familiar with now. They are: feeding the hungry, giving water to
the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting prisoners and
the sick.
Christian
neighborhood has no geographical, racial or religious boundaries. Our neighbors,
therefore, represent the Christ we often do not welcome. Christ is in the
beggar, the hungry, naked, the homeless, the sick and the prisoner. It is rather
a scandal to witness a Christian community with the richest in the society and
the poorest; those living in extreme material comfort and those living in
abject poverty.
Mother
Theresa was a woman who devoted her life in caring for the poorest of the poor.
She fed and served needy
orphans, AIDS patients, lepers, tuberculosis victims, homeless families and
indigent people. She saw each and
every one of them as Jesus in disguise. On one occasion, a journalist once
beheld a sight of her attending to the wounds of a leper and said "I wouldn't do that for a million dollars." Mother
Teresa replied, "Neither would I. But I would
gladly do it for Christ." Let
us, therefore, receive Christ who is in our neighbors and the poor that He
might receive us on the last day into His eternal bliss.
