Lent, 2nd Week, Thursday, Feb 29
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Jeremiah 17:5-10 / Luke 16:19-31
Jesus talks about concern for the poor: He represents something totally new. He is
the owner’s (God’s) own son.
“There was a rich man ...” It’s instructive to note what the
sin of the rich man is in this parable. It’s not that he calls the police to have
Lazarus removed from his gate. It’s not that he objects to giving Lazarus the
scraps from his table. It’s not that he kicks Lazarus each time he passes him. What,
then, is the rich man’s sin? The rich man’s sin is that he ignores Lazarus. His sin is that he doesn’t lift a finger to help him. His sin is that he closes
his eyes to the fact that Lazarus exists. His sin is not what he does to
Lazarus. Rather, it is what he doesn’t do for him.
What are we doing to help the needy in our midst? “The sin of the
rich man was not that he did wrong things, but that he did nothing.” William Barclay
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Whenever we are on the streets, we are quite certain to encounter
some people that belong to a so-called "class" in our society. We can
be quite sure to meet some "poor" people, those who seem to be in
some kind of financial difficulty.
They may be those who are really down-and-out and begging in the
streets; there are others who are not certain of when they are going to have
their next meal; others may be hovering just above the poverty line. So even in an affluent country, we do see the presence of
poor people. And if we bother to go further into the matter, then we will
realize that there are genuinely poor people in our society.
The parable in today's gospel makes us realize this reality and also asks us what are we going to do about it and how are we helping the poor?
That brings to mind that one of the spiritual disciplines of Lent is almsgiving and last weekend we received the Charities Week envelopes.
How much are we going to put into the envelope and how much are we going to give in regular almsgiving depends very much on how we understand what God wants us to do for the poor.
More than charity, it is our duty to help the poor, and it is also about justice to the poor when we understand that we are stewards who should look after the weak and poor members of our community and society.
It also underscores our faith in the Lord God. As the 1st
reading puts it: A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord ... he is
like a tree by the waterside ... it has no worries of drought and never ceases
to bear fruit.
When we
understand that it is our duty to help the poor and that it is an act of
justice, then we will receive that blessing from the Lord and we will continue
to bear fruits for the Lord.
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LITURGY
Introduction Those who place their faith in themselves and in the
means they possess are not open to God or God's kingdom. They make themselves
their own gods and adore what they have made. They adore the golden calf. They
fail to see the needs of others, especially of the poor. Those who have more
are not condemned because they have more, but because they don's see the needs
of those who have less. We must learn to see also the unspoken needs of the
poor, especially of the humble, of those who dare not to voice out their poverty
and distress.
Penitential
Rite:
With Jeremiah we are reminded,
-Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. LHM
-Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. LHM
-Blessed is the
man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. CHM
-You alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone
according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds. LHM
Opening Prayer
Lord, our God,
many of us never had it so good and so, we have become smug and self-satisfied,
happy in our own little world. God, may our ears remain open to your Word and
our hearts to you and to our brothers and sisters. Do not allow us to forget
you, or to place our trust in ourselves. Make us restless for you through Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
General
Intercession
– For the poor and
the destitute, for those who live at the margin of society, we pray:
– For those whose
hearts are hardened and who no longer see the needs and the cravings of the
poor, we pray:
– For poor
countries of the third or the fourth world, that they may have due access to
the riches of the world, we pray:
Prayer over the
Gifts
Lord God, you know
what is in us and where our treasure is. Give us faith not in ourselves or in
what our hands have made, but in what we can build up together with you and
with your Son, so that what we are and do may be both a gift from your goodness
and the fruit of our work, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Prayer after
Communion
Open our ears,
Lord God, to the words that Jesus speaks to us, that we may believe in your
future and build up a better world. Open our eyes to the needs of those who
suffer, that we may care for you in them. Open our hearts to you, that we may
love and praise you, for ever and ever.
Blessing Eyes to see the needs of the people, ears to hear their cries for justice and mercy, a fair share in the goods of the earth, material and spiritual, that is what we all need very much. May almighty God be good to you and give you all these.
