If we are honest none of us relish the idea of  judgment or accountability. Perhaps we have this   uncomfortable feeling that we are not really doing all we could or all we should. The even more frightening realisation is that if we suspect we are not doing all we could …. we probably aren’t!

On the Day of Judgment humankind will be  assembled and the good will be told “Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you …. I was hungry and you gave me food, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you  visited me.” The criteria for final judgement is crystal clear, we will be simply judged on very simple acts of love and compassion. We are asked to see Jesus in the beggar on the street, the starving children on our TV sets, the refugees in our city hostels and the sick or vulnerable people in our parishes and communities. It sounds easy, so why do we so often fail to respond?

We fail to respond to need, when we find it difficult to share our resources or our time. We fail to respond when we cannot recognise need or when we jump onto some kind of moral high ground. We fail to respond when we are so wrapped in our own lives that opportunities to recognise need in others simply passes us by. Worst of all, we fail to respond when we simply can’t be bothered.

Today’s gospel is like a sneak preview of an exam paper, but having a sneak preview isn’t enough, if we want to pass the test, we need to respond to the needy on a daily basis in order to recognise Jesus in our lives.