"I was ill and you cared for me"

Homily for Christ the King, Year A
When he had his conversion on the road to Damascus, St. Paul saw a great blinding light and heard a voice from heaven, the voice of Christ himself: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” This shocked man who had fallen to the road would have had every reason to be confused – it was true, he had been persecuting people, but he hadn’t persecuted Jesus; he had never even met Jesus. But when he thought about the voice from heaven, everything made sense. Saul had indeed been persecuting Jesus, because Jesus lives in the Church, he lives in those who follow him, those who believe that he is the Son of God; to be Christian is to be filled with Christ. When one member of Christ’s body suffers, Christ himself feels the pain; and when one member of Christ’s body rejoices, Christ too is filled with joy.

And so it is in today’s gospel. The least ones that Jesus talks about – the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and the imprisoned – these people who are the least of all and the most helpless of all are really Christ. When we care for them, we care for Christ; and when we ignore them, we ignore Christ. Part of the glory and wonder of the Incarnation is that Christ became one of us to share in everything that makes us human, and it is in our weakness and suffering that we are most human. To love people at their weakest – at their most radically human – is to love Christ, who did not avoid suffering and death even though he is the King of the world.

Today, our parish community comes together especially to bring love and healing to the sick. The Anointing of the Sick recognizes the presence of the Holy Spirit among us and asks that Christ, the Great Shepherd and Physician, may bring healing and comfort to those members of His Body who are feeling the effects of sickness or advanced age. Through this sacrament, the whole Church unites itself with both Christ and the sick to bring them together and hold them in prayer. To care for the sick is one of the most fundamental calls for all who follow Christ. For when one member of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer, and Christ suffers with us. And when one member of the Body of Christ is Anointed, the whole Church “supports [them] in their struggle against illness and continues Christ’s messianic work of healing” (Pastoral Care of the Sick, General Introduction, 98). For we are all members of one Body, joined together in Christ.