Monday of the First Week of Lent
Amen I say to you what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me. - Matthew 25:45
As we are near the end of February, the mercifully briefest month of the year, this entry will also be brief.
“He is disguised as the refugee; as the beggar rattling coins in an empty coffee cup; as the exploited child; as the unemployed worker; as the depressed person whom no one visits; as the working poor with two and three jobs. We bump into Jesus everywhere because the needy are everywhere. We are to do what we are able to comfort them, and we ought to experience, at least a little shock, upon realizing that we bump into Christ when encountering the poor of this world.” -Sacred Space: Your Daily Prayer Online.
The above listed “least ones” are the more obvious among us who reveal the face of Jesus. But it’s harder to see Jesus in the less recognizable—the cranky neighbor, the annoying relative, the self-absorbed teenager, the impatient clerk, the know-it-all co-worker, the whiny child — the sandpaper people in our lives.
“Lord give me patience,” we may pray. “And I want it now!”
Some days taking a deep breath and counting to ten is the best we can do. “Lord, reveal your face to me on those who step on my last nerve!”
-Timothy J. Cronin