Love in concrete Action

Priest Seraphim Storheim : Homily
Love in concrete Action
Sunday of the Last Judgement
22 February, 1987
1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2 ; Matthew 25:31-46


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Gospel reading gives us the fundamental lesson of the Christian life. The big temptation in living the Christian life (especially in North America), is to spiritualise our Faith. This “spiritualisation” shows up as we try to tell ourselves that everything is all right as long as we are meditating and praying and not doing anyone any harm. Therefore we try to live a good life by ourselves and be sort of upright in ourselves and take pride in being honest. That is approximately all there is for most people’s attitude towards religion and religious life : be good ; live a decent life ; do not do anyone any harm. That is what most people seem to think has to happen in what they perceive to be a spiritual life. Today’s Gospel reading shows plainly that that is anything but enough. Much more is demanded of us than merely some sort of abstract “good life”.

We are expected by the Lord to do something in our lives – something concrete, something touchable. Many times I have talked about living Love. Love love, love. The Gospel is full of examples of living love. However, loving God is not some abstract, warm, fuzzy feeling in the heart. Loving God is not merely standing in church and saying : “Oh, isn’t it wonderful ! The choir is so beautiful today. It’s so lovely”. It is not simply sitting in church and saying : “Oh, what a wonderful preacher the priest is” (if he happens to be one) or “Can’t he sing nicely” (if he happens to sing nicely). This is the least part of Christian living. It is true that standing in church and praising God is the first thing that we must be responsible for doing, and be full of joy about doing. However, if that is all that we are doing, then we had better think again. The Gospel says today from the words of the Lord Himself that in order to expect to live in the Kingdom, we have to be ready to do concrete acts of love towards our brothers and sisters. The Lord says that if we visit the sick, if we go and visit those who are in prison, if we put clothes on those who have no clothes, if we feed those who are hungry, then we are doing the will of God, the Father. Then we have hope of entering the Kingdom of Heaven and being with those on the right hand of the Lord.

If we live just by ourselves, and say : “I live a good life. I don’t hurt anyone, but that’s all. Don’t ask me for anything. I don’t bother anyone. I don’t trust anyone”. If that is how we are, we had better look closely at today’s Gospel reading. Love must act. Love must do. You might remember seeing the musical My Fair Lady. In the movie version, Eliza Doolittle has a young man who is very much in love with her. He sings songs outside her window and he reads poetry to her. All his poetry and all his songs say : “Oh, how much I love you, Eliza Doolittle”. In the end, she gets fed up with it because pretty words do not mean anything. I am sure that anyone here who has been married for a long time (or even a short time) or if you have been part of family life, you will know that the words “I love you” do not mean anything by themselves. Meaning comes when love is evident in action. The one who says that he or she loves has to do something about it. Love is meaningless if it is only words. Love is real if it is accompanied by acts, deeds, things. That is why we are always giving each other flowers and candy : to show that our love is more than just words. That is why we help those who are ill, and look after each other when we are ill, and look after each other when we cannot look after ourselves. That is why we do dishes when we are not expected to do dishes. That is why we clean when we are not expected to clean. That is why we open doors for each other and say : “After you”. That is why we shovel the sidewalk without being commanded to do it. All these little tiny actions carry love with them. Why do I do the dishes ? Why do I vacuum the floor ? Why do I shovel the sidewalk ? Why do I polish the car ? Why do I help to make meals ? Why do I do anything ? I do it because I love, that’s why. If I did not love, I would not do anything at all.

However, these acts of love have to go farther than just our family living. We have to be ready to visit those who are sick. In our parish there is Mrs. n who gets some visitors, but she does not get very many. As far as I know, only three or four of us go to see her regularly. She is 95 years old. She is almost blind now, and can hardly see anything. It gets very lonely. She cannot watch television ; she cannot read letters ; she cannot see to do anything as we can. However, she has first-class hearing, and she likes to talk. It should be our responsibility to go and see her. There are more. There is also Mrs. n who is ill and does not see anyone either, these days. We can at least phone her and talk to her. In our own community we should be more attentive about seeing who is not here on Sunday. We should find out who is ill. It should be our job. It is not just the priest’s job. If someone is absent, we can call them to see if they are all right and if they need any help. That is actively doing the love of Jesus Christ.

If things are going well in the parish, and no-one is ill, what can I do ? I can give money to Oxfam. I can help people who are starving somewhere else in the world. I can send money to help the Orthodox refugees in Lebanon who have had to leave their homes because of war. I can do all sorts of things. I have to listen to God saying in my heart : “Do this ; go help this person ; go visit that person”. If I have arthritis and I am not strong enough to move around very well, what do I do then ? We can listen to God speaking. Sometimes during the day, someone’s name will come into our mind. Those names do not come by accident. Those names come to us from God. What He wants us to do when those names come to us is to pray for those people. It may be that the person has some need, or is ill or sort of depressed and does not know why. If I do pray for those people whose names come to my heart, just saying “Lord have mercy” for those persons, then I am helping the Lord to do something for them. I may not find out what my prayers do, but they do good for the person. Sometimes when the Lord brings a name into my mind and I cannot forget that person, that means that the Lord wants me to pray in a serious way for that person. Therefore, I pray many times that day for him or her, saying “Lord have mercy” ; or “Remember n and have mercy”. That is the least we can do. If we are able to do more, then the Lord expects it of us.

All these ideas that when we die we just simply go to Heaven and everything is wonderful are dreams. We are not likely to go to Heaven unless, with the Lord’s help, we put ourselves on that road now. We put ourselves on that road now by doing good to those around us and helping those around us by prayers and by actions. When the chips are down, we even love those who do not love us ; we even love those who hate us ; we even love those who kill us. That is the Christian way. That is the work of the Gospel.

How do we do this ? There is only one way. We come here every week and receive the Lord’s Body and Blood, in order to let Him live in us, so that He Himself will give us the strength and the will and the love. That is the only way. Therefore, let us now come to Him and stretch out our hands to Him and let Him give Himself to us. Let us live in the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.