The next to last weekend before the Great Fast, the Church would have us listen to two readings that clearly tell us that the penance we do will not lead to salvation but only dispose us to live in a manner that will led us to salvation. St. Paul says to the Corinthians that the food we eat or do not eat will not being us “closer to God”. What he suggests is that choosing to eat or not eat certain foods will only dispose us, because the act of fasting develops within us discipline, the ability to live as a child of God, to live as Jesus lived.

Matthew’s Gospel then articulates how it is that we must live if we wish to gain salvation. The actions that Matthew articulates have nothing to do with actions that violate any of the Ten Commandments. So very frequently Christians think that they will be judged on how they kept the Commandments. On the contrary, Matthew’s Gospel presents a much different picture. The Gospel clearly states that how we treat the least of God’s children is how we directly treat God.

This, of course, all makes perfect sense if we truly understand the revelation that humans were created as temples of God’s own Spirit. So anything we do to others is done to God Himself.

his is why we are called to unconditionally love others as Jesus loved others, regardless of what others do to us. This is the real challenge of the Jesus message. How do I love others without any regard to how they treat me? How do I, for example, return hatred and rejection with love?

Of course we have an example in the Person of Jesus. He clearly showed us unconditional love for others. He was able to do this NOT BECAUSE HE WAS GOD, but because He had God’s Spirit within Him as a human person. We can never use the excuse that we cannot imitate Jesus because He was God and we are only human. Jesus, as a man, endured suffering, rejection and hatred as a man precisely because He loved God.

God never expects us to do something that is beyond our power. By setting the criteria for achieving salvation to be how we treat others, He knows that we have the ability to learn how to unconditionally love and forgive. Otherwise He would never have set the criteria for salvation to be love of neighbor.

As we prepare for the Great Fast, let us ask God to help us.