This is our final quote of the week from Anglican priest and theologian Kenneth Leech. Leech understood that an authentic Christian spirituality must necessarily connect contemplation and compassionate action, personal freedom and social transformation,
Divine generosity and human gratefulness. ~ DJM

In the end—as it was in the beginning and is now—
the crucial question, especially for those who claim the name of Christ,
will be: with whom did you stand? 

CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY is the spirituality of the Poor Man of Nazareth who took upon himself the form of a Servant. To know God is to do justice and plead the cause of the oppressed: to know God in Christ is to share in his work of establishing justice in the earth, and to share in his poverty and oppression. For in Christ, God becomes a little poor man, a member of an oppressed race, an exploited class, a colonized nation. God in Christ becomes poor and oppressed, making himself one with all the poor and oppressed peoples of the earth. And Christ in his ministry identifies himself with the prophetic mission, to ‘set free those who are downtrodden’ (Luke 4:19). To follow the way of the Kingdom is therefore to follow him who fed the hungry, healed the sick, befriended the outcast, and blessed the peacemakers.

This is why Matthew 25 is so crucial a passage for Christian spiritual life. In the judgement, Jesus tells us, the important question is going to be about whether one recognized Christ in the hungry, the naked, the prisoner. . .

“Then the righteous^* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren (sistren), you did it to me.'” (Matt. 25:37-40)

ARTWORK: Sieger Köder, Jesus and Simon of Cyrene

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