What have you done for the least of God’s children?
Have you fed them? Have you clothed them? Have you visited them in prison? Have you loved them when no one else would? Have you cared for them in the way that they needed, even when they could not ask? Have you spent the night waiting for them, praying for their safety? Have you asked God to let you suffer with them?
It is such a humble burden to care for another. When we take a risk and do for someone else the kindness that human dignity deserves, when we open our hearts to possibility and let our expectations go for a moment, we might just end up feeling exhausted and foolish, rather than blessed. It might be only long after, looking back, that we see the face of Christ reflected in their eyes.
On this feast of Christ the King, I ask myself: What have I done for Christ?
—Fr. Paul Lickteig, S.J. serves as parochial vicar at St. Xavier Church, Cincinnati OH.