During this Lenten season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, the Lord leads us to a deeper detachment from the things of this world. He also leads us to a greater understanding of the Church’s mystical union with Him through the poor. The Lord views the poor as Himself, as He taught in Matthew 25:40, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” As demonstrated by her life, St. Teresa of Calcutta took these words seriously. She argued that the correct translation should be “you did it to me.” Because the Lord identifies completely with the suffering poor, we must learn to see and care for Him there.
The Lord wants us to see the inherent dignity of every human being, but as Christians He calls us to go deeper. When we serve the poor, we are serving the Crucified Christ. St. Teresa of Calcutta saw Christ “in his most distressing disguise” when she ministered to the poor. We who see Christ’s Real Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist are also meant to see Him in the suffering poor. To put on the supernatural vision of Christ is to see into these deeper realities.
An opportunity arose this past Sunday that was not for myself, but for those I minister to. A few months ago, I took over Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) at a local private college. It is a program that is in total re-build mode. Prayers are greatly appreciated; our chaplain is battling cancer, and as is the case nationwide across college campuses, there are hundreds of fallen away Catholics. Our group is quite tiny, but the Lord is at work.
Last week was spring break for the students, so, with no Masses being offered on campus, I had an opportunity to take a few of them to my parish, which also happens to be a basilica and home to 18 holy relics. Multiple other students and friends of students met us at Mass, so I gave them all a tour of the relics afterwards. The students were able to venerate a sliver from the True Cross Our Lord bled and died upon for us.
After the tour, the Lord was not done with His Lenten spiritual lessons. As I was driving two students and my daughter home, we stopped at a red light where we saw a homeless woman to whom my daughter and I have given snacks, meals, prayer cards, toiletries, and other items over the years. We have chatted with her off and on for nearly a decade as she sits at her usual corner and we wait for the red light to change. This time a gentleman we know from our parish was sitting beside her, dressed in his Sunday suit, chatting away with her.
We offered snacks and joined in the conversation. It turns out he had known her for years and just convinced her to come to Mass with him next Sunday. We praised God at this news while my two college students quietly sat in the backseat. We told her how excited we were that she would be coming to the basilica for Mass. We went directly from praying with a piece the True Cross Our Lord died upon to ministering to the suffering poor.
In that moment, the witness of this gentleman from my church, coupled with the ease at which my daughter and I provided snacks and conversation, were an example of what we are called to as disciples of the Lord. The gentleman from church provided her with company, and we provided her with a snack, something to drink, spiritual aids, and toiletries. Between the three of us, we answered Christ’s call in Matthew 25:35-36: “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.” All of this was for the woman’s spiritual and material benefit, but it also was a much needed lesson for the two students sitting in the backseat.
Discipleship is not a distanced thing we do from the comfort of our own homes. It is an entering into the day-to-day realities of the people we come into contact with and speaking the Good News into their lives.
College campuses are places of spiritual poverty in our present age. The age of Christendom is dead. There may be some last gasping breaths, but by-in-large the young people of our day are living secular lives. A part of entering into this spiritual poverty is by awakening the joy of the Good News in a deeper way. The Lord is always calling us to more.
Attending Mass is the single most important thing we do. It is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, according to Vatican II. We were on our way from Mass; we had just left the True Cross. But it is exactly then that we must remember—the Mass is a sending forth. It is a place we give proper worship to God, which is our highest duty, but then we are sent out into the world to live as His disciples. The True Cross is a reminder that we are called to be crucified for others out of love for Christ. We are meant to see Him in the agonies of others and to love them because we love Him.
Disciples of the Lord serve the poor. They go into dark, broken, and uncomfortable places in order to bring the light of Christ. Disciples minister to the sick. They proclaim the Good News to the lost, which I have one student doing in every relationship he has—a beautiful witness to the other students and myself. Disciples live a life of dedicated prayer and service. We are meant to see Christ working throughout our day and respond to the needs we encounter.
During this Lenten season, may we truly see Christ in the suffering poor. May we find the courage to go into uncomfortable places and strengthen others to grow in greater maturity as disciples of the Lord as well.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.
Photo by Jean-Claude Francolon/Gamma-Rapho on Getty Images