First Reading (Leviticus 19,1-2.11-18)
Reading of the Book of Leviticus.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the entire community of the children of Israel, and say to them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Do not steal, do not lie, and do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord. Do not oppress your neighbor or extort money from him. Do not withhold the wages of a hired worker until the next day. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not do injustice in the execution of justice; do not show favoritism to the poor or honor the powerful. Judge your neighbor fairly. Do not be a slanderer among your people. Do not plot against your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. Do not harbor hatred toward your brother. Rebuke your neighbor so that he may be right. you shall not be guilty of sin because of him. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
– The word of the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Gospel (Matthew 25,31-46)
Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew.
— Glory to you, Lord.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all the angels, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the peoples of the earth will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right: ‘Come, you who are blessed of my Father! Receive as an inheritance the Kingdom that my Father prepared for you since the creation of the world! For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; When did When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you into our home without clothes and clothe you?’ Then the King will answer them: ‘Truly I tell you, every time you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me!’ Then the king will say to those who are on his left: ‘Go away from me, cursed! ‘Lord, when come we hungry, or thirsty, as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did we not serve thee?’ Then the King will answer them: ‘Truly I tell you, as often as you did not do it to one of these little ones, you did it to me!’ Therefore, these will go to eternal punishment, while the righteous will go to eternal life.”
— Word of Salvation.
— Glory to you, Lord.
Reflecting the Word of God
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Imagine a scale. On one side, it says “Holiness” and on the other, “Love for others”. For many of us, it may seem that these two dimensions of faith are at opposite ends, as if to be truly holy we needed to distance ourselves from the world and its problems, or as if to dedicate ourselves completely to serving others we had to give up the search for personal holiness. But today’s readings show us, with crystal clarity, that this is a false dichotomy.
In the book of Leviticus, we hear the Lord say to Moses, “Speak to the whole community of the children of Israel and say to them, Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” What an extraordinary invitation! God is not asking something impossible, but invites us to participate in His own nature. Holiness is not a quality reserved just for a chosen few, but a calling for all of God’s people.
But what does it mean to be holy? Many of us may imagine holiness as something ethereal, mystical, separate from everyday concerns. Perhaps we think of saints with halos, gazing contemplatively at the sky. But the text of Leviticus quickly dispels this notion.
Immediately after the call to holiness comes a very concrete and practical list of behaviors: “You shall not steal, nor lie, nor use falsehood toward one another.” Holiness, Leviticus tells us, manifests itself in the most ordinary interactions of daily life – in how we treat our employees, in how we conduct ourselves in business, in how we speak to one another.
“You shall not exploit your neighbor, nor oppress him with violence.” In a world where economic exploitation is often normalized, where the disparity between rich and poor continues to grow, this instruction is profoundly countercultural. Holiness, Leviticus tells us, manifests itself in economic and social justice.
“You shall not harbor hatred for your brother in your heart… You shall not seek revenge, nor bear a grudge against the children of your people.” In a culture that often celebrates resentment and retribution, this call for forgiveness and reconciliation is revolutionary. Holiness, Leviticus tells us, manifests itself in hearts free from bitterness and resentment.
And then, the culmination of this text: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment, which Jesus would later identify as the second greatest of all, sums up everything that came before. Holiness is not separated from love for others; is expressed through him.
Now, let’s go to the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus presents us with the powerful parable of the final judgment. In this dramatic scene, the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats, based on a surprisingly simple criterion: how they treated the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigners, the naked, the sick and the prisoners.
Note well: Jesus does not ask about religious practices, theological knowledge or mystical experiences. He asks, “Did you give me food when I was hungry? Did you give me water when I was thirsty? Did you take me in when I was a stranger?”
And when both the righteous and the unrighteous ask in confusion, “Lord, when did we see you in this condition?” Jesus’ response is one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture: “Truly I say to you, as often as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”
This is a surprising and transformative revelation. Jesus is completely identifying with the marginalized, the vulnerable, the suffering. He is saying that we find it not just in the sanctuaries and the sacraments, but in the streets, in the hospitals, in the prisons, in the refugee camps.
This parable challenges us to an honest assessment of our lives. How have we treated the Christ we find disguised in the faces of those suffering around us? Do we recognize the sacred presence in people that society often makes invisible?
When we bring these two readings together, a powerful truth emerges: holiness and compassionate service are not separate paths, but the same road. Being holy as God is holy means loving our neighbors as ourselves. It means seeing Christ in others and treating them accordingly.
St. John of the Cross once said, “In the evening of life, we will be judged by love.” Today’s readings confirm this profound truth. In the end, what will matter will not be how many prayers we say or how many rituals we observe, but how much we concretely love.
This does not mean that spiritual practices such as prayer, fasting, and studying the Scriptures are not important. They are crucial! But they are means to an end, not the end in itself. They should transform us into more loving, more compassionate, more Christ-like people.
My brothers and sisters, today we are invited to integrate our spirituality and our service. To seek holiness not by running away from the world, but by deeply engaging with it. Seeing that the call to holiness is inseparable from the call to love and serve.
Think of the great saints in the history of the Church. Teresa of Calcutta found Christ in the dying people of the streets. Francis of Assisi found it in lepers and the poor. Vincent de Paul found it in prisoners and the abandoned. These saints did not compartmentalize their lives into “prayer time” and “service time.” For them, finding Christ in those in need was prayer. Serving the poor was worship.
And so it should be for us. Every act of kindness, every gesture of compassion, every effort to alleviate suffering is a sacred encounter with Christ himself.
But let’s not fool ourselves: this path is not easy. It is more comfortable to keep our faith private, separate from the challenging issues of social justice, poverty, immigration, health care, and other pressing issues of our time. It is safer to seek holiness within the four walls of our churches.
Jesus, however, calls us to an incarnate faith, which is not afraid of the complexities and controversies of the real world. He calls us to a holiness that is not only personal, but also social and political, in the deepest sense of those terms.
When we feed the hungry, we are not just performing an individual act of charity; we are participating in God’s mission to bring abundant life to all. When we stand up for the marginalized, we are not just being good citizens; we are following in the footsteps of Christ, who always stood on the side of the excluded.
As we leave this church today, let us take with us this transformative truth: we encounter God not just in the quiet moments of prayer, but in the loud, confusing, and sometimes uncomfortable encounters with those society often ignores.
May we, by God’s grace, be holy as He is holy – not with a holiness of isolation, but with a holiness of involvement. Not with a holiness that separates us from the problems of the world, but with a holiness that plunges us deeper into them, armed with the love of Christ.
And at the end of our lives, when we meet face to face with our Lord, may we hear those blessed words: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…”
May it be so for each of us. Amen.
