WHICH ARE WE – THE SHEEP OR THE GOATS?
Monday of the First Week of Lent
My dear encountered couples:
There are certain passages and stories in the Bible that catch our attention. No matter how often we hear them they make us think. Today’s gospel reading is like that. It is Jesus telling us about the Last Judgment - about the sheep and the goats. “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine,” Jesus said,” you did for me.” Those are the sheep and they go to heaven. “What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” Those are the goats and they go to hell. Which are we? The sheep or the goats? That’s a very important question we had better ask ourselves often.
The purpose of our lives here on earth is to become loving people. A big sign of that love is how we treat others. The real measure of our love is how we treat those we live with. For if we can treat well those we live with, then there’s great hope for us. Doesn’t take much love to be nice to those we seldom see, it takes more love to be nice and considerate to those we work with and go to school with. But those we live with, day in and day out, year in and year out - to be good to them is a feat that can be managed only by those who are filled with God’s kind of love.
Therefore: Look and see how you treat those in your home. And how you respond to the way they treat you? That can give you an idea how you are treating Christ, that’s what is placing you among the sheep or the goats. If you don’t live with anyone, how are you to know? I doubt that hermit’s can.
But one indication might be how you respond to those who are often calling and visiting and inviting you. How do they make you feel inside? Kindly towards them, or annoyed and angry? Your life is a preview of your final judgment. Are you satisfied with the part you are playing?
