He Takes It So Personally

In a very "animated" and far-ranging conversation with my nephew a couple of nights ago--we both get over-excited trying to explain what we want to say--he asked me "Isn't there supposed to be a big war at the end of the world?" I told him yes: and that soon after Our Lord would come, that all the dead whether good or bad would be resurrected, that He would call the good to Himself to separate them from the bad forever. We talked a little about that separation of "sheep" from "goats" and the criteria Our Lord will use.

I told my nephew that Jesus means it when He says that whatever we do--or fail to do--"to the least of My bretheren," we do to Him. I pointed out that when Saul met Jesus after the Ascension, the Lord didn't ask why "My followers" or "the Christians" or "My disciples" were the focus of Saul's murderous attentions. He asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?" Oh, He means it, alright!

From there the conversation with my nephew veered off onto other topics, but this line of thought has sort of stayed in the back of my mind since then. I've been thinking of Christians the world over suffering terrible persecutions even as I compose this. Baptised Christians, grafted to the True Vine, suffering because they belong to Him. Their enemies persecute none other than Christ Himself.

I've been thinking of how great saints have searched for the Face of Christ in every person they met, and given service even to foul and abusive patients (St. Francis of Assisi, I think), and even kissed lepers (St. Francis again). I thought of St. Camillus and how he overcame his own foul and abusive impulses to serve the sick and dying with such tenderness. And I thought about Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity serving the destitute dying and AIDS sufferers, serving Jesus in each one of them, recognising the image of God in every human soul. They have been priveledged to serve Christ Himself.

This is probably on my mind because I'm bothered by my own selfishness. It's so easy to turn a blind eye and go my merry own way. Thing is, I've been praying to St. Odelia for spiritual sight, but I'm not liking all that I see so far. I'm discovering that spiritual insights aren't necessarily consoling. Sometimes they're hard and gritty. Sometimes they reveal a boil that has to be lanced. If I just go on as I have in the past, there's a chance I won't be rubbing shoulders with sheep. I'm going to have to make some concrete plans to intentionally practice specific Works of Corporal and Spiritual Mercy, until being merciful is habitual.

I have often wondered what it might have been like to be there at our Lord's Passion. We are there with Him mystically whenever we offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, witnessing the miracle of transubstantiation at the hands of His priest, offering our lives with His, interceding for the needs of others. We are sent out to bring Him to the world. It occurs to me that--because we are His Members and we truly serve Him, Our Lord Himself, whenever we offer service to our fellows--that we are present at His Passion in our daily lives, if we make the effort to see and serve His little ones!

We are the women weeping over His suffering. We are Veronica wiping the sweat and blood from His Face. We are Simon lifting His Cross to our shoulders. We wait at His Feet along with Our Mother. We are Joseph and Nicodemus offering Him a burial place, annointing His Body with precious oils, wrapping His Body in linen. It really is Jesus Whom we serve! We really are there!