At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: When the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory; and before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; naked and you covered Me; sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the just will answer Him, saying; ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You; or thirsty, and give you to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and take You in; or naked, and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And, answering, the king will say to them, ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the least of My brethren, you did it for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left hand, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give Me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will and say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did not do it for one of these least ones, you did not do it for Me.’ And these will go into everlasting, punishment, but the just into everlasting life.

-Matthew 25:31-46

There are two ways we can approach this moment in scripture:

The first way is to look at it as a parable of treating our fellow human beings with the greatest of compassion and love at all times, knowing that the heart of Jesus is present in all beings, that we ourselves are reflected in the experience of all beings (read even those who provoke us to disgust or anger or cries of injustice, for even in those are aspects of our own beings we are loathe to admit exist). It also suggests that in time, we will be judged on the merits of our faith as well as our deeds.

The second way to look at this is to see it as a parable of natural outcomes on a more immediate timescale. If A then C, if B then D. The outcome of treating our fellow human beings with the greatest of compassion and love at all times is to enter into a state of grace, as it were, which affords us not only deeper spiritual connection, but calm. The outcome of the opposite is fire, a consistent need to be right, the rage of attempting to preserve a way of life that promotes misogamy, the pursuit of equality up the side of a hill of gravel, with those at the top encouraging those climbing knowing full well that there will be only a small few who will rise to the top.

One way requires a sense of justice that starts by looking outward and being inclusive. The other, by looking inward and being protective.

When you go before God in prayer, when you speak with Christ and the Blessed Mother, and then listen for an answer, what do you suppose you will hear depending on how you have loved?