Daily Devotional for July 30

 

July 30                                                     Matthew 25:31-46

The invitation to eternal life, "Come, O blessed of God," is
based upon the most concrete expression of love and human
kindness imaginable: the simple bonding of ourselves in com-
passion and service with those who are in need. However
complicated we tend to make the definition of loving service,
the essential element given by Jesus is this: "As you did it to
one of the least of these my sisters and brothers, you did it
to me."

In our cities there is an increasing number of homeless men
and women. Who of us will minister to the needs of "the least
of these my sisters and brothers"? Increasing numbers of gay
men are living and dying with AIDS. Who of us will minister
to the needs of "the least of these my brothers and sisters"?
More and more black families are falling into poverty. Who
of us will minister to the needs of "the least of these my sisters
and brothers"? Only as we discover not only Christ's call to
serve the least of those around us, but also that we ourselves
are in their company, do we really comprehend Jesus' teaching
in today's Gospel.

For Jesus' teaching today is not about class or status. It is more
a description of a community bound together by need and by
sharing. In the communion of loving service we become one
with each other and with the purposes of God. Jesus himself
lived this kind of loving community life and demonstrated its
implications in his own sacrificial service to others. He served
one person after another in our world, teaching, feeding,
always providing for the need of each from his own resources.
This was God's way that Jesus followed and, by following,
revealed. He commends it to us as the gateway to God's
everlasting presence.

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From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.1989