Monday of the First Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

The readings today are, for many of us, foundational for the work we do, especially Matthew’s Gospel.  We may have whole presentations, firmly encoded in memory and requiring no notes, that we offer to parish and school groups when speaking of Catholic Social Teaching, all based on “Matthew 25.” 

The contrast with Leviticus could not be more pronounced.  The Mosaic system enumerated here is a list of "NOTS."  Prescriptions against things we should not do to others.  I also note that the main relationship described is with God. 

The theological development in the New Testament is welcome and also challenging.  Jesus in Matthew’s parable – his last before we begin the narrative of the Passion – does not give us a list of “nots,” but a set of choices based on relationship.  That relationship is focused downward.  Rather than helping the follower to focus “upwards” toward a transcendent God, as in the first reading, Jesus clearly identifies himself and God with those at the bottom.  This is a different kind of relationship.

A theme has emerged lately in my work: homeless families with children who have such behavioral needs that some shelters can’t serve them.  These families, some with toddlers, are in vehicles while they wait for the systems – which are saturated – to find alternatives.  Even with multiple programs and funding streams at our disposal, we cannot resolve these cases.  Medical providers and school counselors are all calling to advocate for these families, but that advocacy does not create openings in appropriate shelters or changes in funding restrictions.  I’ve come to think of these situations as the cross I will bear this Lenten season.  They are humbling.

When will we move past the Mosaic code of “thou shalt nots” and find ourselves and our systems in a world shaped by relationship?  Relationship with and relationship for?  Matthew 25 is on our minds, on our lips, in our hearts.  During the coming weeks of Lent, I pray, for all of us and for our clients, that God may move us all toward a new day of relationships. 

Scott Cooper is VP of Mission for Catholic Charities Eastern Washington (Spokane).  He serves on the Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team with CCUSA.  He and his family belong to Sacred Heart Parish in Spokane, where he sings in the choir, still masked.

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