With God, We Define Us

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐋𝐞𝐯 𝟏𝟗:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟗:𝟖-𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟓 “𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐭 𝟐𝟓:𝟑𝟏-𝟒𝟔

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞.” (𝐯.𝟒𝟎) 

          In today’s Gospel reading in 𝐌𝐭 𝟐𝟓:𝟑𝟏-𝟒𝟔 we will find ourselves at the crossroad of our human existence as we learn from the teaching of Jesus the need for us to define ourselves. This passage takes place toward the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry and in these following verses, our Lord speaks about the final judgment, where he separates the righteous from the unrighteous.

          At the core of his message is the importance of acts of kindness, compassion, and service to the least among us and this teaching reminds us that our faith is not just about beliefs but also about how we live out our faith in practical ways.

         In an international conference of charismatics that me and Malou attended some years back, a prominent Catholic lay preacher said: “You need to define yourself. Otherwise, others will.”

I’ve been brooding over what he said and I realized that what he meant was that our character is shaped by how we define ourselves in the way we carry ourselves – our speech, our actions, how we relate to others especially the marginalized, and if we are to place ourselves at the center of the Gospel passage today, there are two choices we can make in our search for our identity – we could either be like goats or we could be like sheep.

         To differentiate, goats are curious by nature and pretty much independent. Sheep, on the other hand, would prefer to stay put together with other sheep in one flock. If we are to give these two descriptions of the goat and sheep a human dimension, goats would refer to people who get into trouble because of their independent nature while the sheep are people who prefer to remain in the protection of their sanctuary.  

         Conversely, those who allow their human wisdom to dominate their spiritual nature can probably be lined up among the goats while the sheep are those who follow only the voice of the shepherd of the flock. 

         If we go through this Gospel passage by just reading it, we may miss its significance as this is probably one of those times when Jesus spoke with so much clarity that while it is clear that the Day of Judgment will definitely come, it also speak of the parameters that God has laid down that will become the basis of how we will be judged.

         What makes this passage meaningful is the fact that Jesus in this parable also shows us what we need to do so that we will not incur the wrath of God when our time for judgment comes. And the all-too familiar anecdotes in the lives of Saints Francis of Assisi and Martin of Tours should serve as our guide on how we are to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God.

St. Francis of Assisi was born to a wealthy family and as such he has everything that could make his life as comfortable as can be imagined. Despite all the things at his beck and call, Francis felt incomplete and was looking for something far beyond the happiness that he had.

When he went out riding one time, Francis met a leper along the road whose face had been disfigured by the disease. No one in his right senses would come near such a person. But Francis felt something for the man. He dismounted from his horse, went to the man, placed his arms around the man’s shoulders and as he did this the face of the leper changed to the face of Christ. Francis became a changed man after that.     

         The other story was that of St. Martin of Tours. He started off as a Roman soldier, but he was also a Christian. In one cold winter day as Martin was entering a city, a beggar came to him to ask for alms. Martin had no money at the time, but he noticed that the beggar was already blue and was shivering in the cold of winter.

All that Martin had was his cloak that was almost worn out but he took it off, cut it in half and gave half to the beggar. As he slept that night, Martin had a dream and he saw angels in heaven with Jesus in their company and Jesus was wearing half of the coat that he gave to the beggar. One of the angels asked: “𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒌? 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖?” And Martin vividly heard Jesus say: “𝑴𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.”

         What Francis and Martin did touched the soft spot in the heart of God and these two examples of what these two saints did should give us an idea of what we can do to curry the favor of God when our day of judgment comes. As this parable shows, God will judge us based on what we did to those whom we meet particularly those who do not fit into our standards.

         Our skills, talents, knowledge, prestige, social standing, fame and fortune we may have amassed will be of no use as God will not judge us based on our possessions and achievements but on the help that we have given especially to the very least around us.

         In fact, if we look closely at the parable, we will see that what Jesus requires are very simple. These are things that won’t take so much effort, yet we are not doing it. Take the following for example – giving food to the hungry, drink to those who are thirsty, welcoming a stranger, giving hope and cheer to the sick and, visiting those in prison. Before us there are opportunities to do these things and it wouldn’t even cause a dent into our possessions. These are simple things that we can do every day, but which matter in the eyes of God.

         It is human nature to expect something in return for what we give but this is not the standard of God and many times there are those who will give only if they are given praise and publicly acknowledged. Such kindness is superficial and which is selfishness disguised as generosity. The help that will merit God’s approval is that which is given without expecting a return or a reward.

         And in this parable, Jesus provides us with the truth that all the help given to the very least of our brethren are gifts that we give to him especially when we don’t withhold anything as the gift that we have freely received we must also freely give. 

         In this Lenten Season we are invited by Our Lord to look back into our lives and see how near or far we are from him. This season is an opportunity given to us by God to make amends for the things that we may have missed or omitted as we went through life’s journey.

         God has given us the freedom to make our own choices notwithstanding the fact that his image and likeness has been engraved in our souls when he created us, we at times choose a path that is diametrically opposed to God’s Will. The only problem is that the kind of life we choose to live now and the moral choices we make will have far-reaching consequences that will determine our spiritual future.

         Jesus wants us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, a leaven to a world that is need of healing and forgiveness, a sheep who will only obey the voice of the shepherd. When we heed God’s call to let our lights shine when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, visit the prisoners and those who are sick, we become channels through which the poor can see and experience the love and compassion of God.

         So, the question we need to ask ourselves is how are we going to define ourselves – are we a goat or a sheep? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 23, 2026)