Father Greg Boyle, SJ, founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world, wrote a reflection in “Naked, and You Clothed Me: Homilies & Reflections for Cycle A” in which he refutes the title of Christ the King for a title he believes is more in keeping with what the feast day celebrates:
“In the end, the measure of our compassion with the ‘Least, the Lost and the Last’ lies not in our service of those on the margins, but in our willingness to see ourselves in ’kinship with them.’ It speaks of a kinship so mutually rich that even the dividing line of “service provider/service recipient” is erased.”
According to St. Matthew’s Gospel today on the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we as disciples of Jesus are to put into practice the Corporal Works of Mercy as Jesus outlines not only when convenient, but always, if we are to be recognized as acceptable for eternal salvation. For most of us that means stepping outside of our comfort zone because we do not seek those in need, but help when we are reminded in a myriad of ways.
I had an opportunity to help a homeless person the other day by giving her some money to buy food and missed it because I thought I would see her after running my five-minute errand. She was gone by the time I finished. How selfish of me to put myself first who is so blessed by God. I am at best a tarnished disciple.
What that incident teaches me is to act quickly as Jesus tells us all to do in order to be ready for our end time because we will not know when it will happen. We must follow in His footsteps in reaching out to those in need as He outlined; not only because we will be judged by what we do but because that is our promise to God when we say yes to our Baptism to love God and all He has created as He loves us.
Father Boyle adds the Kinship aspect so we can adopt it as our second nature. It is to be an automatic action, proactive component of our daily life. We are to think of and act upon it without hesitation. Nothing is more important than to serve those in need be it family, friend or stranger. The Kinship we feel is that all of us are truly God’s children no matter how the world tries to define who we should be in opposition to God’s ways.
As Jesus says: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for Me.” Our King sees no difference. His love, mercy and forgiveness are no less for any of His creation. Let us also show none as we reach out. It is the least we can do for all of God’s creation since He continually does it for us in both Kingship and Kinship.
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