The corporal works of mercy serve as the basis for many a social ministry program, but it’s not easy day in and out to keep the vision alive.

The church year always ends on a downbeat: Judgment! Those aware of the three-year lectionary cycle know that three gospels are used sequentially to illustrate the idea of Christ the King, and all involve the idea of choices freely made, and judgment swiftly rendered.

When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

My father, who most everyone knew as Big John—a name that said as much about his hearty personality as it did about his large frame—did not leave this world without a grand sendoff. “Epic” is how one of my father’s friends described his wake and funeral Mass.

The Lord rescues us, gives us rest, and heals us.

We tend to judge ourselves and others using the criteria of comparison, or objective laws. The activity of judging is itself a road best not taken, because God alone has the right to judge.

The quote from today’s gospel that begins “just as you did it to one of the least of these . . .” is surely one of the most recognized in scripture. It’s also one of the most misunderstood.

Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering the Kingdom. —Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 544)