The mystery of the incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, has much significance for us Christians’. One important aspect is the fact that Christ, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:9), takes our human nature and becomes one with us, in order to save us. The God who created us in his image and likeness, now assumes our human nature in order to concretize our divinity. In so doing, he makes us one with him and with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This oneness with God is noticeable in a special way during the celebration of the sacrament of baptism. The prayers reveal this transformation of the baptized into the image of Christ.
The Lenten season is a special period of recollection. It is a time to listen to God (Lev. 19:1) and by so doing rediscover our divine identity. Remembering who we are is a right step towards our rededication to our goal in life. The Lenten season reminds us of our identity as sons and daughters of God in Christ and calls us to return to God, who through his grace restores our Christlike dignity and image. The Lenten season is for me, therefore, not so much a time of transformation in the sense of becoming what we were not before, but a time to return to what we are and what God has meant to be.
Mission of Love
And this is what we hear in today‘s Gospel. Our mission is love, because Christ is love. Created in the image of God, who is love, the baptismal grace strengthens us in our love of God and neighbors. And when Jesus says today:“ whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me,“ (MT. 25: 40) he is simply reminding us that our motivation for loving God and one another is more of our response to the salvation he has purchased for us, than our trying to attain eternal reward through our own effort.
The awareness of what he has done for us on the cross propels us to respond in love. The best way we can thank him is to love one another. The best way to make him happy is to love all those whom he loves and for whom he died on the cross. As God, he does not need our gifts, because he lacks nothing. But he lacks in our neighbors who is not sure of the next meal, who cannot pay his school fees or hospital bills, in someone who has just lost a dear one. The fasting we are embracing during this season helps us to feel the sufferings of others and to render a little assistance from the proceeds of our Lenten denials. (What does your Lenten program look like?)
Doing good to people out of our friendship with Jesus and out of our love for him, helps us not to expect reward or appreciation from the people we are helping. It saves us from doing good only to those who are good and friendly to us. Because here, we are not focusing on the personality of our needy neighbors but on the person of Jesus, who has first loved us and out of love, saved us. In this way, our charity will be purified, the godly in our lives will shine out and our oneness with Christ will be strengthened. This oneness with him is what he will perfect in heaven. May this Lenten season helps us to return to and to reacquire this our oneness with God. Amen.
