When Did We see You Hungry?

“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?" Matthew 25:37

“The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,

In whatso we share with another's need;

Not what we give, but what we share, —

For the gift without the giver is bare;

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, —

Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me." (James Russel Lowell) 

St. Martin of Tours was an 18 year old legionary when he met a beggar clad in rags at the city gate of Amiens. He decided to cut his great woolen cloak into two, and give half to the beggar. That night he dreamt that it was Christ wearing half of his cloak. 

St. Francis is famous for exchanging his rich clothes with beggars. And also kissing lepers whom he used to find revolting. Once when he did kiss a leper's hands and face, he looked around after mounting his horse, and could not find the leper anywhere!

"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." Matthew 25:35

Perhaps the best way to do Lent this year is to find Jesus in jail, in the hospital, at the orphanage, old age homes, or hungry in the slums in the city. In this parable of the Last Judgement, we see that in the Kingdom where God is Master, we will be judged not according to what we have accumulated, how much power or popularity or influence we have, but how much we loved.