Other-centred
‘For I was hungry and you gave me food…’
Mt 25:35
Today’s Gospel is the most quoted scriptural passage in the works of St Augustine.
Why is that? It gets to the core of what it means to be a Christian. Surprisingly, we won’t be judged on the amount of time we have spent on our knees, but on what we have done for others. Christianity, above all, is a practical religion. Christ is fed and cared for in and through others. We have no other way of loving him. And he, in turn, loves us in and through others. Augustine understood profoundly that love of God and love of neighbour are in practice one command. Commenting on St John, he says, ‘You do not yet see God, but by loving your neighbour you gain the sight of God’. The love of God comes first in the order of command, he says, but the love of neighbour comes first in the order of action.
As always, Augustine then relates this to life as a journey towards God in Christ. In a striking passage he says, ‘By loving your neighbour and being concerned about you neighbour, you make progress on your journey… We have not yet reached the Lord, but we have our neighbour with us. So then, support him with whom you are travelling so that you may come to him with whom you long to dwell’.
This is a suitable passage for Lent, which is a journey, with Christ in the desert towards Easter. We travel through Lent with our neighbour at our side, as the Lord who walks that journey with us. The focus is not so much ourselves but others. So Lent, which can easily become exclusively self-centred, is also other-centred.
This is why the Church urges us to do three things in Lent: pray, fast and give alms. Praying and fasting without almsgiving would be fruitless. Today’s Gospel reminds us of that truth. This Lent, as well as looking at your prayer life and giving something up, also give something away to someone in need.
A reflection written by Paul Graham O.S.A., St Joseph's Broomhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
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Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. Col 4:6