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There’s a sense in the air I’ve felt for some time, but certainly more concentrated during this pandemic. It’s a feeling of dread and purposelessness. I don’t the doubt of God’s existence; this has nothing to do with that. I mean the feeling that “there is not justice in this world.”
No matter who you are or what your beliefs, it is easier to look at this time and feel that hopelessness and lack of justice. Honestly, I feel it too, seeping into my own self at times.
Today’s Gospel is one of the ways God tries to dissuade us of that notion. Today’s Gospel shows us that our actions do, in fact, matter and have real consequence.
Jesus tells us that “just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” That means every time when we have helped someone, be it feeding them, clothing them, keeping them well, or you name it, it is as if we were doing those things for God directly.
We may get discouraged and it may seem like the good we do has no impact. God is telling us that in the grand scheme of things it does. Even if you see no effect or change, your actions in this world matter.
We need to remember that. What we do matters. We are called not to act selfishly, but to treat the downtrodden as if they were our Lord Himself. We are called to remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that the power of God is “made perfect in weakness.”
This isn’t to say that we aren’t all still sinful humans or that we don’t all in need of Grace because we are and we do. But it is to give us hope. Even when it doesn’t seem like it, our actions matter. Even when all seems lost there is hope. Our role in that hope is to continue to strive forward and help show God’s power in this world as it is made perfect in weakness.