Question 10.161

10.161 How do you understand the words of Christ: “I am with you always”?

In the first place, the presence of Jesus exists through the Church. I get the sense that we very quickly forget these words from the Gospel of Matthew: “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:19-20). Through the Church, Christ’s promise has been kept continually since his death.

We can perceive his presence in the sacraments, also. We are baptized in the name of Christ. Similarly, the Eucharist is the Body of Jesus, and confession fulfills the will of the Son of God to remit the sins of mankind. Finally, in the Gospels, he is the one who speaks through his apostles.

The Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, explains as follows: “To accomplish so great a work Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of His minister, ‘the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross’, but especially in the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes. He is present in His word since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt 18:20). Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work where God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father. Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree” (SC 7).

Christ is also present alongside the poor and the suffering. It is impossible to forget Christ’s radical words when he spoke to his disciples about his Second Coming: “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:31-46).

Saint John Chrysostom always vigorously takes up the defense of the poor and the unfortunate. He likes to recall that Christ never came to terms with the scandal of the wealth and luxury that were displayed before the eyes of the poor. In his Homilies on Matthew he wrote: “Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked. For he who said, ‘This is my body’, and made it so by his words, also said: ‘You saw me hungry and did not feed me’, and, ‘inasmuch as you did not do it for one of these, the least of my brothers, you did not do it for me.’ What we do here in the church requires a pure heart, not special garments; what we do outside requires great dedication. … Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s table with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his table. Will you have a golden cup made but not give a cup of water? What is the use of providing the table with cloths woven of gold thread, and not providing Christ himself with the clothes he needs? What profit is there in that? Tell me: If you were to see him lacking the necessary food but were to leave him in that state and merely surround his table with gold, would he be grateful to you or rather would he not be angry? What if you were to see him clad in worn-out rags and stiff from the cold, and were to forget about clothing him and instead were to set up golden columns for him, saying that you were doing it for his honor? Would he not think he was being mocked and greatly insulted?”

Saint John Chrysostom shows Christ in the poor man and has him say: “I could feed myself, but I prefer to wander about as a beggar, to hold out my hand before your door, in order to be fed by you. It is for love of you I act this way.” The archbishop of Constantinople vehemently protests against slavery and the alienation that goes with it: “What I am going to say is sad and horrible, nevertheless I must say it. Put God in the same rank as your slaves. … Set Christ free from hunger, need, prison and nakedness. Ah! You shudder at my words!”⁵ When Saint John Chrysostom speaks about Christ present among us, there is reason to be afraid! His words are blunt, harsh, and unyielding. The whole man is there in his words. He does not speak in order to hear his own voice or to beguile. He writes to instruct, to exhort, to reform, anxious to combat pagan customs and to instill the morality of the Gospel. Saint John Chrysostom is a true pastor who educates and feeds his people, explains the Sacred Scriptures and applies them to everyday life.