A Reflection on Todays Gospel

We read the Gospel of Matthew today and something struck me about the passage that had never struck me before.  The reading was about the Son of Man taking his place on the Throne and separating the nation's, some on his right hand and some on his left.   Separating the sheep from the goats.  And he will say to the those on the right, "Come you who are blessed by my Father for I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me".  I was suddenly aware of something I had never understood in what followed.  When the people on the right asked "When were you hungry and we fed you, thirsty and we gave you a drink, a stranger and we welcomed you, naked and we clothed you"  You would think they would have known exactly what he meant.   But strangely they did not.   What was happening here was that their were such goodness in them that good works was not something they planned or thought through, nor  should I say boasted about, it just came naturally to them as mature Christians.   As Christians they did not measure their charity to others.   There is a great deal said today about Catholic Social Teaching and this is presented as something revolutionary and a means of bringing justice to the world and indeed is being presented by some as the only worthwhile thing within the Church.  As long as you give to the poor what does it matter about sin.   But it matters very much for Catholic Social Teaching is built on Catholic Moral Teaching and not the opposite.    Sin, yes that old fashioned word, is what separates and divides.  Sin causes violence, and sin outside and within marriages has caused a great deal of suffering in children which they carry for the rest of their lives.  Sin leads to young people in care, young people suffering, and young people on drugs and prostitution.  Sin leads to an unstable society and hate and war.     And those who do not underpin Catholic Social Teaching with Catholic Moral Teaching will find themselves on the left hand side of the Son of Man, because their work for Cafod, or any other organisation did not flow from their Christian Faith but from their love of self.  They ignored the suffering and responsibility for others in their everyday lives.