Today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel (Matt25:31-46) spells out the Corporal Works of Mercy. In the excerpt from Leviticus Liv19:1-2,11-18), those admonitions from Jesus are expanded. And then Psalm 19 praises the wisdom of God’s law. All this is a bit overwhelming for me. I know I fall woefully short when measured by the yardstick of today’s Gospel. Not to make excuses for myself, but there are only so many hours in a day. I have gravitated to causes that I believe in and will make time for. If I try to do everything, I suspect that I will do nothing well. That is where prayer comes in. I must try to be more mindful of all my fellow sojourners on this trek called life, and pray for them, even the ones I don’t really like. And as the Psalm says, “The Law of the Lord is perfect” even if I am not! So I’ll strive to live the last stanza of today’s psalm “Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart find favor before you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
