In this video recording, Bp. Teofil Roman of Spain and Portugal, invites us to a deeper reflection on our lives: “We can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good people, that we follow the rules, that we come to church, fast, pray, give alms, etc. But this is not necessarily love, it does not mean that we necessarily resemble our Savior Jesus Christ…”
February 18, 2023, Salva Monastery, Romania
Bp. Teofil:
But we, here on earth, can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good people, that we follow the rules, that we come to church, fast, pray, give alms, etc. But this is not necessarily love, it does not mean that we necessarily resemble our Savior Jesus Christ…
And if we resemble Him, if we have any connection with Him, then we can do the same… We can truly humble ourselves, become kind to everyone, become patient, merciful, helping any person who suffers… Because it HURTS the heart when you see someone in suffering…
But if we do good in a selective manner, and say: “oh, I will help this guy, but not that one… This one deserves it, that one doesn’t, this one is lazy, that one is a liar, this one doesn’t deserve to be helped!”
This is not the love of Christ! This is human pride and self-interest. We only do something if it’s worth doing, if it’s not worth it, we don’t do it anymore… But this is not Love. Love does not look at merits.
Love is benevolent, it welcomes everyone, it tolerates everyone, it welcomes us all without judging us… As long as we judge others and do good selectively, we do not resemble the Savior Christ, we are not His people…
You have seen in the Gospel [Matthew 25:31-46] the reaction of those on the left who said: “But when did we see You naked and hungry and imprisoned and thirsty? If we had seen You, we would certainly have helped You…”
You see where is the interest! “If we had seen You and had known that You were sick, we would certainly have visited You…” Because, yes, it is worth helping Jesus…
“We didn’t know… We didn’t see You anywhere!”
We also see at the Saints how they have a similar reaction, but still there is another nuance…
And the righteous say, those on the right side, “But Lord, when did we see You? We have never seen You! We are not aware that we have ever helped You with anything…”
Here is something else, here is discretion. The one who loves, the faithful one does good deeds with such discretion that they do not even feel it… They do not realize that they do something good… they are not interested in that, they do not analyze how much they have done and whether it is worth doing something…
They simply do good for free because they cannot do otherwise. That is why the righteous do not know that they are righteous… Because they did good in such a natural way that they did not think that they were doing something out of the ordinary… But they were doing it because, in fact, Christ worked in their heart.
They truly received Christ into their heart, and then Christ was the One working. But with discretion, as He says: “let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” [Matt. 6:3] The Lord Himself is very discreet and delicate, He does not want to attract attention. He only wants to stir up love and compassion in our hearts.
Therefore, the only thing that should concern us while we are still in this life is this: whether or not we have a living connection with Christ, our Savior.
Because if we have a living connection with Him then it is impossible not to do good deeds, because it is the grace of God that works in us and does the good work.
And these deeds are not the means to ‘purchase’ our salvation. If we do a good deed, through it we do not subdue God or force God to receive us in Heaven… No way! This is a heretical view!
The good deed is only a fruit of our faithfulness, of our connection with the Savior Christ, an effect of grace, it is not my merit. My only merit, if any, is to believe in Jesus Christ, to believe that He is the Truth and the Life, that He is the raison d’être of all existence, all things were made through Him and for Him. Apart from Him, existence has no meaning and man even more so, because man was created in His image, in His likeness.
And then, apart from Christ, humans have no purpose, we come from nowhere and go nowhere.
The judgment will be fearful because then our true state will be revealed. Whether or not we have fellowship with Him. Whether we really resemble Him or not. The last judgment will not be a legal process like we have here on earth, with a judge, with an accuser, with an accused, with a defender… No way!
The judgment will actually be a revelation, in the light of Christ we will all see ourselves as we really are…
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