It’s not all about you

Some people are very self-centered, even when it comes to God.

They speak of MY personal Lord and Savior or even absolve themselves from church attendance or any other inconvenient thing by saying "I don’t need that for me to feel close to God."

Today’s readings (and most especially today’s Gospel – Matthew 25:31-46) remind us that our spiritual life cannot be “just you and me, Lord.”

‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’

He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’

And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.

This Lent, may we focus not just on our individual spiritual lives, but also on how that spiritual life is bound to our service of others by the grace of God.