Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the third preparatory Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent!  Today we heard the Gospel parable about the Last Judgement.  

During the present preparatory period before Lent we have already read about the need to seek out opportunities to humble ourselves, as well as about what real repentance looks like.  Today the Church continues to prepare us for Lent, and through the Gospel parable about the Last Judgement, tells us a little bit about charity.  Nothing in this parable is overly complicated.  It becomes clear that service rendered to our neighbour, a suffering person, is as good as service to Christ. Therefore in the coming days of Great Lent, when we are called to pay less attention to our physical lives and to think more of heavenly and spiritual things and about God, let’s not forget those in need around us and let’s try to serve them.  

St. John Chrysostom notes that Christ does not talk about “freeing those in prison” or “healing the sick,” but about “visiting them.”  In other words, it is not expected that through our charity we will save people or drag them out of poverty.  This would be a very difficult or even impossible thing, and so we are commanded to only “visit them,” that is, to offer help to the extent that we are able to do so.  

Today, in addition to teaching us about charity, the Gospel reading reminds us that our earthly life and, in general, the entire physical world are finite and that sooner or later we will have to answer for our actions.  Although there are many people who enjoy surmising as to the exact time that Christ will return to earth to judge both the living and the dead and spend much time and energy on such things, these conjectures always end up being a waste of time.  Such a tendency can be found in every Christian generation, from the time of the apostles, when the Thessalonians stopped working because they believed Christ would appear at any moment, to our own time, when we can find ‘the signs’ of the last times practically everywhere.  Of course it would be better to remember that Christ will appear when we least expect it and thus to always be ready.  This means to seek out humility, repent of our sins, and serve our neighbours.  

Today let’s pray to the Lord that our spiritual strengths are always aimed at preparing us to meet Him, whether it be at the end of time or at our own physical death, or at another moment when the Grace of God touches us.

priest Alexis