Homily for 11 Nov 2015

11 Nov 2015

Memorial of St Martin of Tours (Mt 25:31-40)

Whenever we look in a mirror, we see ourselves, of course.  But is that all we see?  Isn’t there somebody else in the mirror, too?  What about . . . our parents?  You know, sometimes people say, “You have your mother’s eyes;” or “You have father’s nose.”  We look in the mirror and we ourselves; but we also see some of our parents, too.

And do you know who else we see there in the mirror? . . . we see Jesus.  When we look at a mirror at smile, Jesus is smiling at us.  Or when we cry, Jesus is crying with us.  Or if we look in the mirror and just make funny faces, Jesus is making funny faces at us.  And that’s because Jesus is love, Jesus is the poor, Jesus is the spirit of joy.  When we look in a mirror, we see Jesus inside us, just like we see our parents in our eyes or our nose.

But what happens when we look at other people around us?  Well, we might see their parents in them (if we know what their parents look like).  But we also see Jesus in them.  When we look at our friends (or other people we don’t know), and we see them smile, or cry, or play, we see Jesus.  And it’s the same Jesus we see in ourselves when we look in the mirror.

That’s why when we love our neighbors and friends, we’re also loving Jesus . . . because Jesus is in us and in other people.  And so, next time you look in a mirror and see your mother’s eyes or your father’s nose, remember to look for Jesus, too.  He’s there in your smile, in your tears, in the funny faces you make.  And then look at your neighbors and friends, and love them . . . because he’s in them, too.