Chotard Doll

Dear Friends,

“I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger…naked….sick….in prison.”
—Matthew 25:34-36

That is such a direct call from Jesus. It is bound to make us stop short and consider our own actions. To comply means we “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world“. To ignore means eternal estrangement from God.

How do we live up to this? The operative response is love. If we love God, if we love Jesus, we will respond with love to those we encounter, because God loves them. Ministering to others is ministering to God, the holy presence in all those we meet.

I’m reminded of this prayer:

“Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise.”
—BCP p219, Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

This is a familiar and difficult struggle. We all have difficulty loving our neighbor, even the ones next door, much less the stranger. But love is demanding. This is the kind of love God shows to us, in sending Jesus Christ to teach and lead us, to bring us to salvation, the kind of love demanded in these hard sayings.

This is the kind of love that transforms the world. And with God’s help we can be part of that transformation, one person at a time: love overcoming poverty, hunger, thirst, imprisonment, and more, even if it is one small offering at a time.

Seeing the Christ in others demands a holy, even mystical awareness, as we look past the outward persona to see the inner presence. Absolutely it is hard. But Jesus is quite clear: in serving others we serve the Christ.

I want to do that. I’m still learning how.

Faithfully,

—Chotard