You better recognise…

By Fr Stephan Alexander

General Manager, CCSJ and AMMR

Certain events mark our lives. The emotions surrounding these events are usually powerful. Depending on our level of emotional awareness and maturity at the time of these events, it may be difficult to process or move beyond them, or the positions we adopt as a result.

I have a vivid childhood memory of a homeless person slapping a sandwich out of my mother’s hand. I was 12 years old. Sunday Mass had just ended, and mum was taking us to the park to play. The man asked my mother for money to buy food. She had no money, but she offered him a sandwich. Mom extended her hand to give him the sandwich when he smacked it to the ground and shouted obscenities. His action and my mother’s fearful response were etched in my memory from that moment. I immediately took the position that I would never give money or food to any homeless person.

I held onto that position for years until my mid-twenties. I was walking to work and passed a homeless person near a doubles vendor. He asked me to buy him two doubles. I scoffed at his request and continued walking.

Eventually, I stopped. I’m uncertain why I did, but in that moment, I reconsidered and decided to buy him the doubles. I hadn’t walked far, so the doubles vendor was still in sight. However, the man had disappeared. I asked those nearby if they had seen him, but nobody had. I was confused. I’m certain that I saw him; however, it seems no one else did.

My conscience ached as the words of Matthew’s Gospel began to play in my mind, and I recognised that I had begun to move beyond merely reading those words to believing them. Since then, I have scarcely denied anyone food.

Today, I am certain that I encountered Jesus in that moment, which dramatically changed how I understood my Christian vocation. It didn’t just transform my position; it transformed me.

I share this story because we have all experienced powerful moments. We’ve all been impacted by the standards of the ‘modern’ world we live in. These experiences and standards shape our viewpoints, and it can be difficult to dislodge the deeply rooted positions we adopt as a result.

Often, a more powerful event—like an encounter with God—is required to help us revisit these positions so we can move beyond them to accept Jesus’ injunction recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew: “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40).

In many ways, those words of Jesus guide how we interact with each other. They often inspire our good deeds. Yet, there’s a limit to how far we allow them to guide us.

The face of God

For most of us, that limit is reached when we are challenged to recognise, as “least,” persons who evoke strong emotions in us, like the vagrant in my earlier story.

For some readers, the challenge may be to recognise as “least” an abuser, a burglar, an unfaithful partner, a migrant, someone with mental health issues, etc. This list is not exhaustive because Jesus desired us to understand that each person is inherently and intimately connected to Him…so what you do to them you do to me.

We are meant to see the face of God, serve God, and participate in God’s being in the world through our interaction with every person. This requires us to recognise the inviolable dignity of each person, no matter who they are or what they have done, because every person is a mystery to be safeguarded.

To say that every person is a “mystery to be safeguarded” is to affirm that each life possesses a depth and sacredness that only God fully comprehends.

Safeguarding this mystery does not mean ignoring wrongdoing or neglecting victims’ suffering. Justice and compassion must always walk together. The Gospel never asks us to excuse evil, but it does call us to resist the temptation to reduce any person to the worst thing he or she has done.

To recognise the dignity of another is to affirm that God’s grace continues to work in every human heart, even in brokenness and failure. Such recognition demands wisdom, prudence, and appropriate boundaries, yet it also invites us to remain open to conversion—both our own and that of others.

In this way, we uphold the dignity of victims, seek justice for wrongdoing, and still refuse to surrender the Christian conviction that redemption remains possible.

The challenge before us, therefore, is deeply spiritual. We are invited to examine the attitudes, fears, and prejudices that shape our responses to others, and to ask whether they reflect the heart of Christ.

Encounters with God—whether sudden and dramatic or quiet and gradual—have the power to transform our perceptions and expand our capacity for love. As we continue our journey of faith, may we allow the Lord to purify our vision so that we may recognise His presence in every person we meet.

In doing so, we grow into the fullness of our Christian vocation: to love as Christ loves, to serve as Christ serves, and to witness to the sacred dignity that belongs to every human life.

The CCSJ asks for your support.

Please donate: Catholic Commission for Social Justice

Account #: 290 458 025 501

Bank: Republic Bank Ltd.

or you can contact us at:

admin.ccsj@catholictt.org