When We Fail the Least of These
By Abbot Bishop Brian Ernest Brown, CWC
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” -Matthew 25:45
Beloved in Christ,
There comes a time when silence itself becomes a form of complicity, when the people of God must stand and speak, not out of anger, but out of conscience. We live in such a time.
Our Lord said plainly, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to Me.” And yet, we in this nation, a nation that dares to call itself Christian, are failing the least of these every single day.
We have turned our faces from the poor. We have built a system that treats poverty not as a wound to be healed but as a crime to be punished. While Scripture calls us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, our leaders, some of whom boast of their Christianity, have presided over the collapse of the very programs meant to keep food on the tables of struggling families.
SNAP benefits go unpaid, and yet these same leaders find endless funds for the engines of war and wealth. Insurance premiums rise beyond reach while tax breaks are showered upon those who need them least. The sick are told to “take responsibility,” while the powerful take advantage. The working poor are blamed for their suffering.
This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the worship of Mammon, the golden calf of self-interest, paraded in the public square and blessed with hollow prayers.
And what of the stranger among us, the immigrant and the refugee? Our nation, once proud to welcome the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, now cages children and turns away the desperate. We have hardened our hearts behind borders and bureaucracy, as if God’s image were not imprinted on every human soul.
Christ Himself was once a refugee, carried by Mary and Joseph into Egypt under cover of night. The Savior of the world began His life fleeing political violence. How can any nation, especially one that calls itself Christian, forget that?
We have also failed the lonely, the elderly, and the children. The epidemic of isolation in our society is not merely emotional; it is spiritual. It is what happens when a people forget how to love one another. When the value of a person is measured in productivity or profit, the Cross becomes a scandal again, because the Cross reveals a Savior who had nothing, yet gave everything.
And what of those “Christian” politicians who claim Christ while trampling His teaching? Who proclaim “family values” while dismantling the safety nets that keep families alive? Who quote Scripture while gutting compassion from policy?
The prophets of old would have wept. Isaiah said, “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed.”
Christ said, “Blessed are the merciful,” not “Blessed are the well-connected.” He said, “Love your neighbor,” not “Love your donors.” He said, “Give to everyone who begs from you,” not “Cut the program and call it reform.”
To those who use Christ’s name to justify greed, I say plainly: you have made Him a stranger in your own house. You preach Him with your lips but crucify Him again in your policies. You pass laws that strip dignity from the poor, and you dare to call it stewardship. You hoard wealth and call it blessing. You ignore the sick and call it liberty. This is blasphemy dressed in a flag and baptized in convenience.
But the Gospel is not only judgment, it is invitation. For even now, Christ stands at the door and knocks. The poor are His knocking hand. The hungry are His pleading eyes. The immigrant is His journeying feet. The sick and the lonely are His sacred wounds.
To follow the Prince of Peace is to open the door. To feed, to heal, to welcome, to love, even when it costs us something; especially when it costs us something!
This is the true test of discipleship. Not how loudly we proclaim Christ, but how faithfully we serve Him in the suffering of others.
As Coworkers of Christ, our calling is clear. We are not to mirror the world’s cold indifference but to offer a holy alternative, a community where the poor are honored, the hungry fed, the weary embraced, and the forgotten remembered. We must be a living sign that another Kingdom is already breaking in, a Kingdom not of greed, but of grace.
Let us therefore lift up our voices for those who have none. Let us challenge the policies that betray the Gospel. Let us become the Church that Christ intended, the Body that heals, the hands that feed, the heart that loves without counting the cost.
In the end, the measure of our faith will not be in what we built, but in whom we blessed.
May God have mercy on this nation, and may the followers of Christ once again become the conscience of a people who have lost their way.
Litany: A Prayer with the Least of These
Leader: Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells among the poor and the broken, open our eyes to see Your face in those the world forgets.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the hungry and the homeless, for those who long for daily bread and safe shelter, may we offer compassion that feeds body and soul.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the lonely and the forsaken, for the elderly and the abandoned, may our presence become Your presence, our listening become Your love.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the weary laborer and the working poor, for those crushed beneath the weight of indifference, may our hearts move to justice and our hands to mercy.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the sick and the sorrowing, for all who bear pain in silence, may our prayers lift them, and may our touch bring healing in Your Name.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the immigrant and the refugee, for all who wander without welcome, may we remember that You Yourself were once a stranger in a foreign land.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For the children, hungry, frightened, or alone, may we guard them as treasures of Your Kingdom and restore to them the joy of belonging.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: For our nation and its leaders, that the powerful may learn mercy and the proud may remember humility, may justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: And for ourselves, O Lord, cleanse our hearts of fear and self-interest, that we may become coworkers of Your peace and instruments of Your compassion.
People: Lord, hear our prayer for the least of these.
Leader: Christ, who lives among the broken, make us one with them in love, that through us Your Kingdom may draw near.
People: Amen. So let it be.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.