This weekend’s passage from the Holy Gospel gives us a view of the Final Judgment. It’s a grand image…Jesus on a throne surrounded by angels…and “all the nations assembled before Him.” And Jesus continues the story of judgment by describing the “separating of the sheep from the goats.” Wow! Close your eyes and consider this. In this image, “Christ the King” comes in his heavenly glory to judge us, based on how we have shared our love and blessings with others through acts of charity/giving in our lives. The Holy Gospel constantly reminds us that Jesus is present to us now, not only as our Good Shepherd leading, feeding and healing his sheep, but also as dwelling in those for whom we care. In the parable of the separation of sheep from goats in the Last Judgment, every person to whom we give ourselves, "whether hungry, thirsty or a stranger, naked, sick or in prison," is revealed to us as having been the risen Jesus. Our reward or punishment depends on how we have treated this risen Jesus in the needy. PLEASE CHECK THE ARTICLE IN THIS BULLETIN RELATED TO OUTREACH…this is what this Gospel passage is referring to. Here at St. Michael’s we take seriously the Lord’s call to reach out to the needy. Christ the King is a hidden God who “goes incognito” wearing a mask. He is hidden in the suffering millions. This Gospel passage is an invitation for us to embrace the suffering poor, just as St. Francis of Assisi did, just as Blessed Mother Teresa did. The first requirement for sincerely giving to the poor is to have the love of Christ inside of us. We can’t embrace hurting people unless the love of God prompts us from within our hearts. That embrace begins at home, in unselfconscious acts of generosity to our family and friends. Then this love of God, welling inside of us, begins to reach out to all kinds of people precisely because of our awareness that the same God who lives in us is living in them. Great thought! During this holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas we have so many opportunities to reach beyond ourselves to help others. Make sure you seize some of those opportunities…God expects it! Leo Tolstoy's story "Martin the Cobbler" tells of a lonely shoemaker who is promised a visit by our Lord that very day. Eagerly all day he awaits his arrival. But all that comes is a man in need of shoes, a young mother in need of food and shelter, a child in need of a friend. Martin the cobbler ends the day thinking "perhaps tomorrow he will come," only to hear a voice reply, "I did come to you today, Martin; not once, but three times." GOSPEL QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Are you recognizing the face of Jesus in the face of the hungry and homeless?