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Santa Verena Charity

Our Lord Jesus Christ went about doing good by healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, raising the dead, and calling sinners to repentance. The needy and weary souls came to Him and found in Him peace and comfort. Our Lord Jesus Christ is still doing good with us on a daily basis. Therefore, we pray in the Prayer of Thanksgiving saying, “Let us give thanks to the Beneficent God .” Indeed, He is beneficent, and as His children, we should follow His example in being beneficent and going about doing good deeds.

In fact, doing good deeds are essential for our spiritual lives. We sin not only when we do bad acts, but also when we abstain from doing good. The Scriptures teach us, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4: 17) Additionally, good works will be the basis for our judgment on Judgment Day. When our Lord Jesus Christ talked bout the universal judgment in Matthew 25: 31-46, He mentioned that all nations will gather before Him and He will separate them as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Those on His right hand will hear His voice saying, “Come, you blessed of My Fr., inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” While to those on the left hand, He will say, ” Depart from Me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Those on His right hand are the ones who followed Christ’s example in doing good. Therefore, they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, took in the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and went to the prisoner. While those on the left hand are the ones who did not do good works similar to the rich man in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man saw Lazarus laying by the gate of his palace, and did not act with kindness towards him. Therefore, the standard for the separation between those on the right from those on the left will be doing righteous works. The one who imitates Christ in doing good will receive blessings in his spiritual life and will have a portion with those on the right hand in the Kingdom of Heaven.

As the Spirit of the Lord works in our hearts, that love to do good, we follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in doing good so that we have inheritance in His Kingdom.

Posted by Fr. Moses Samaan

March 7, 2009