Mother Teresa once said: “Many today are starving for ordinary bread. But there is another kind of hunger – the hunger to be wanted, to be loved, to be recognized. Nakedness, too, is not just the want of clothes, but also about loss of dignity, purity, self-respect. And homelessness is not just want of a house; there is the homelessness of being rejected, of being unwanted in a throwaway society. The biggest disease in the world today is the feeling of being unwanted and uncared for. The greatest evil in the world is lack of love, the terrible indifference towards one’s neighbor.”

In recent years, we have started to see more and more exactly what Mother Teresa spoke about when she offered this statement. All we have to do is watch the news in the evenings to see the violence that is gripping so many cities across our country and across the world. If we scroll through social media, we see the level of hate and cruelty that individuals spew towards those they disagree with on political or social issues. We simply have to listen to people talk to each other or about each other when we walk through the store, pass by the lounge at work, stroll through the hallways at school, or worse the hallways at home. Maybe we’ve even fallen into the trap of belittling those around us who are a bit different than we are. How often have we privately ridiculed someone who is asking for money, or made fun of them for what they were wearing?

What all of these things reveal to us is that there is an uncharitable and sometimes heartless spirit that pervades our world today, a spirit that has caused us to treat others with so much disrespect and lack of compassion. We have so often fallen into the trap of failing to recognize the dignity of the person standing in front of us, which is ultimately a failure to recognize Christ within that person. But the saddest part about all of this: we even see that happening within our own ranks as the Body of Christ, the Church.

Unfortunately for us, the Lord was pretty clear in what He said would happen to us if we didn’t get this right. There are eternal consequences at stake here. And so, today, we have our wakeup call. The Lord is giving us an opportunity to examine how we are living our lives as His disciples, how we are living out this command to care for the least brothers and sisters of ours. But why does the Lord remind us of this mission on the day when we celebrate Him as King of the Universe? It’s meant to be an invitation for us to remember the kind of king He was while He walked this earth in His public ministry – and the kind of king that He continues to be.

Our readings today offer us a glimpse into the type of King Jesus came to be. “He is not a controlling and domineering political figure, nor even a benevolent dictator.” [1] He isn’t a tyrannical ruler who lords it over his subjects, treating them as inferiors or peasants. Instead, Christ our King is a Shepherd who is willing to leave the 99 in search of the lost one. He is a Servant Leader who reminds us that He has come not to be served, but to serve. He is one who dined with the outcasts of society, rather than the elite. He is one who knelt to wash the feet of His closest friends to show them hospitality and care. He is one who binds up the broken and the hurting, who raises the dead, who cares for the sick, who gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless. Finally, Jesus is a king who offered himself in sacrifice for the salvation and redemption of the world, so that it would be possible for you and me to return to the Father in Heaven and dwell with Him forever. That is who Jesus is.

Today the Lord gives us an invitation: He asks that we follow His example. He desires for us to be His hands and feet in the world, those who care for one another, but especially for those who are on the outskirts, those who feel rejected, abandoned, isolated, unwanted. We are called to be Christ for those whom society tells us have no worth, those who are hidden in plain sight. And we don’t have to go far to find them…because some of them are in Church today; in fact, one of them might be sitting in the pew right next to you.

Do we recognize the needs of our brothers and sisters, even those we see on a weekly basis at Mass? Are we getting to know each and every person we encounter, seeing Christ within them? Have we cared for each other in the way that Jesus has instructed us to, bringing His love and compassion to those around us? Do we seek to do those acts of charity for those who are less fortunate? Are we doing all we can to bring the love of God to the world?

Now, I know that most of us are striving to accomplish this mission that Jesus has given to us. We recognize that there is great need, especially in the current state of things within our country and within the world. But even if we are doing some of these things, even if we are striving to be the best disciples of the Lord that we can be, there is always room for improvement. There is always one more thing that we can do for someone in need.

This week, let’s remember this mission that the Lord has entrusted to us. Let’s strive to be better at living it out. If we want to honor Christ as King of the Universe, we must follow His example. We must not let the spirit of indifference creep into our hearts; we must not allow ourselves to be blinded by it. Instead, we must seek to serve those least brothers and sisters of ours, being Christ for them, and leading them to an encounter with Him. Because when we do that, we might just encounter Christ ourselves; we might just see how Christ is ministering to us, how He is caring for us through the words and the actions of those we serve.

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[1] Bernard C. Scianna, O.S.A., “Solemnity of Christ the King – Year A.” https://www.augustinian.org/homilies/solemnity-of-christ-the-king-year-a

Image: Michelangelo, Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, altar wall, fresco, 1534–41 (Vatican City, Rome) (photo: Francisco Anzola). Used under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.