In
my first parish, every Thanksgiving we would take our 8th graders to
the Migrant Camps in Homestead to distribute food. They would spend weeks collecting
Thanksgiving bags and in the days leading up to Thanksgiving we would load them
all in a truck and in the back of a bus to deliver. Right before we would leave we would read
today’s gospel from Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me food…whatever
you did to the least brothers of mine, you did to me.” We wanted to remind the children that the act
of charity they were performing was for Jesus himself. They were called to recognize Jesus in the
poor. So on this sixth day of Lent,
where do we see Jesus? Where are the
poor among us, and what are we doing to help these brothers and sisters of ours
who are Jesus Christ?
