Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another,as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 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 by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you didfor one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed,into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirstyor a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,what you did not do for one of these least ones,you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment,but the righteous to eternal life."
First off, my favorite Gospel writer is Matthew. I get all excited when I'm at mass and I realize that the gospel is from Matthew. In my opinion, Matthew is easy to understand.
Now, why I'm writing this post is to stop and think, "Am I a goat or a sheep?"
I guess what struck me was the "in prison and visited me" part. Now, this can be any type of prison. For the homebound it can be their house or even their body. For today, I'm thinking of it as an actual prison, with cells and guards.
I've never visited someone in prison. I have prayed for people in prison. Do you?
I have my reasons why I pray for them. One is simple, I want them to know God. People can and do change. Maybe all they need is a little divine intervention. I also pray specifically for those on death row. Is what they did wrong? YES! But is it also wrong to kill them for it? You can find my pro-life views here.
So while many of the things Jesus talks about may come easily to us, the prison one may seem tough for us. Not everyone is able to visit people in prison. Maybe you don't know anyone in prison. I talk a lot about TEC, there use to be a program similar called REC for those in prison. While visiting an actual prison may be difficult, we can pray for those in prison.
I don't know why, but people seem to get upset when I ask them to pray with me for those in prison and those that have made mistakes.
Will you join me today in prayer for those currently in prison? Pray that they may come to know God and make a change in their lives!
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