When Did I See You (04/30/2026)

I was blessed to be asked to facilitate a staff gathering for a diocesan parish. I asked the participants to think of a Jesus story that impacted their lives and that called them to act as a follower of Christ. A woman in the back row raised her hand and slowly and emotionally recalled Jesus’ parable of the Last Judgment from Matthew 25. And finally she shared that the most impactful line for her was the sentence uttered by those being judged: “When did I see you”…hungry or thirsty or ill or imprisoned. And Jesus’ words make her look for Christ in others.

As she shared, I felt moved by her sharing, by her desire to look for Christ in others. Her vigilance now reminds me of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and founder of the Missionaries of Charity who called her followers and us to see Christ in those around us suffering and to be the Good Samaritan in our own worlds. We are called by Christ, I do believe deeply, to tend to the needs of our sisters and brothers. And I am heartened tremendously by the efforts of others in our world to do that through their volunteer efforts to feed the hungry and quench the thirst of the parched and comfort the mourning and attend to the prisoners.

While I think the LORD is calling us to tend to one another, I keep feeling that the LORD is asking more of us. I feel that the LORD is asking us to truly see Him in the other. How could the world change if all His followers saw their savior in those they encounter?

Today, still touched by the woman’s sharing and her emotions as she shared, I want to be one who looks for Christ wherever I go and seeks to encounter Christ through my encounters with others.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.