Thursday March 4

SECOND WEEK OF LENT

 

People Suffer. See Their Needs

 

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’t 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 voice their poverty and distress.

 

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.

 

Reading 1: Jer 17:5-10

Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It fears not the heat when it comes,
its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.
More tortuous than all else is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the LORD, alone probe the mind
and test the heart,
To reward everyone according to his ways,
according to the merit of his deeds.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6

(40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R.  Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Not so, the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R.  Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

 

Verse before the Gospel: Lk 8:15

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.

 

Gospel: Lk 16:19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said,
‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'”

 

Intercessions

• 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 people, ears to hear their cries for justice, 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 these. May he bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Pope Francis commenting on this Gospel says: “Excluding Lazarus, the rich man has not taken into account the Lord or his law, because to ignore the poor is to despise God! Lázarus represents well the silent cry of the poor of all times and the contradiction of a world in which immense riches and resources are in the hands of few … The rich will be condemned not for their riches, but for having been unable to feel compassion for the Lazaruses and to help them… God’s mercy is linked to our mercy towards our neighbour; when we ignore the poor at our doorstep, mercy of God too does not find space in our closed heart, God’s mercy cannot enter. … If I do not open the door of my heart to the poor, that door also remains closed for God and this is terrible …Remember the Magnificat of Mary: He casts the mighty from their throne, he lifted up the lowly;

With this parable Jesus teaches the essentials of compassion and the danger of riches that closes the eyes and the heart towards the needs of our brothers and sisters.

Lent reminds us that this is the right time to convert and look for the Lazaruses who await us for they are in need of a helping hand. Beware of the indifference that closes the heart to such situations of poverty and marginality! Be careful not to close the door of our hearts to the much sufferings of others, because the only credentials before God will be our works of mercy with the poor! Well, “learning to look at the poor from their poverty, the sick from their illness or the marginalized from their marginalization is the goal of a well-understood charity ”

Let me leave you with two thoughts from Saint Basil the Great: The poor is not the one who has no wealth, but the one who refuses to share his wealth. “He was so poor that he only had money.” And the food and clothing that you do not need today does not belong to you. “To the hungry belongs the bread that you withhold; to naked man the jacket that you guard, jealous, in your treasure box”.