Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by 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, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” 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 you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?” And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
– Matthew 25:34-40, NAB
The 25 Chapter of the Gospel of Matthew issues the commandment to care for one another, especially the least among us. Unfortunately, many of us all too often fail to see Christ in those around us. This is true of us as individuals and as institutions. In response to this Gospel mandate, Mount CARiTAS is launching the Matthew 25 Series where we will highlight the needs of those in our communities over a series of initiatives corresponding to the framework defined by our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew.
We are beginning during the 2019-20 academic year by addressing the problem of hunger. We hope to connect current trends at the global, national, and state level to the experience of hunger in Frederick County, and to our Mountain home more specifically. We are working with our partners at the Seton Center in Emmitsburg, MD and the Thurmont Food Bank in Thurmont, MD to better understand the experience of material hunger in our immediate area. Moreover, we are in the planning stages of assessing the prevalence and complexity of food insecurity on our college campus.
As we move forward, we plan to develop similar initiatives on thirst, how we welcome the stranger in our community, how we clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit those in prison. The object is to inspire each of us as individuals to truly see Christ in every person in our community, but also to live out this Christian mission as an institution.
The mission of Mount St. Mary’s University, as a Catholic university, is to graduate ethical leaders, who are inspired by a passion for learning and lead lives of significance in service to God and others. The objective of the Matthew 25 Series is to help provide the wisdom and direction for our institution to continue to live out our mission and inspire our students to do the same! Moreover, we hope that the resources and knowledge developed in collaboration with our community partners will continue to enrich the lives of every member of our community as we all work toward the common goal of empowering the least among us.