Today’s Gospel presents a scene of the Last Judgment.

Did we express our love in deeds? “For 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.” And Jesus adds: “…whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

There is something awful about the specificity of these demands. This is not love in the abstract, having affection for “humanity.” It is caring for that person who is homeless, for that person who is ill, for that person who is in prison.

We do not take our money, our social status, our worldly power, into the next world; but we do take the quality of our love. At the end of each day, we might ask ourselves about the quality of our love–whether we showed love in action to our neighbor this day.

On the header: Picture property of Bishop Robert Barron, wof@wordonfire.org