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Love Is to Give, Love Is to Ask

Lectio Divina: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Paris, September 27, 2013 (Zenit.org) Monsignor Francesco Follo | 775 hits

1) A lesson to live the present and a bewildering command

The first reading and the gospel of the Roman Liturgy about the parable of the poor Lazarus and of the rich glutton, [i] give the direction how to live the present. They don’t have the aim of terrifying us regarding the future punishment if we do not behave. These texts from the Bible tell us that the one who looks only for his or her overabundance cannot take care of the brothers in need and cannot recognize the Son of God in the poor Lazarus. Lazarus is Christ who has suffered all our pain and who has the wounds of the crucified love. He is at our door and waits.

Let’s contemplate the scene narrated by Christ. We see a rich man without name (or better his name are his riches) and a second man named Lazarus[ii]( = the one helped by God because he has nothing). Both men are under the look of the Almighty but they receive His presence in a different way.

The first doesn’t need it; he is so well off that he can enjoy –independently from God – a life with abundant banquets and elegant garments. The other has no one except God; he doesn’t have anything to eat and his body is covered in sores. Nobody goes near him, only dogs approach and console him.

Let’s now have a look at ourselves: we too have sores that we can hide under our riches, but God knows them. These sores make us lie down on earth and implore the heaven. They sharpen our hunger for completeness and are “loopholes” that open us to the Mystery. We are blessed when we miss being “poor” because this is the truth of our being a person. We are poor but we do not deny it to ourselves so that it disguises what we are; if we do not put ourselves at God’s level we think that we can do without him. What do we have that we didn’t receive from Him? Let’s remember that the kingdom of heaven is ours because we are poor of heart, we are sons and daughters, we are men and women … like Jesus… for this reason we are “rich,” rich of His love, rich of having God as Father.

Then we will be able to do the impossible: “to love our enemies” (as we are remembered in today’s Gospel of the Ambrosian liturgy).

A monk from Mount Athos comments this stupefying command of Christ: “There are men that wish suffering and agony in the eternal fire to their enemies and to the enemies of the Church. In thinking so they don’t know God’s love. The one that has the love and the humility of Christ cries and prays for the entire world. Maybe you say: this one is an evildoer and he must burn in the eternal flame. But I ask you: let’s suppose that the Master gives you a place in his kingdom. If you see burning in the eternal fire the one to whom you have wished eternal suffering, would you not have compassion for him even if he had been an enemy of the Church? Do you have a heart of stone? In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no room for stones. There, the humility and the heart of Christ who has mercy of everybody, are required” He ends with this prayer:” Master, as you have prayed for your enemies, teach us through the Holy Spirit to love them and even to pray for them. However it is a difficult thing for us sinners if your grace is not with us.”

Let’s look at Saint Francis of Assisi who was poor and humble, because there is nothing greater than to learn the humility and the begging of Christ (Lazarus is the symbol of Jesus mendicant of love). The humble person lives poor and happy, all is good to his heart. Only the one who is humble and poor of heart sees God in the Holy Spirit. Humility is the light in which we see God who is the light: in his light we see light. Our dawn “dies” in God’s day.

2) Death is not a level, it is a scale

The counterbalance is seen in the second part of the parable where the parts are inverted: now the rich in under and Lazarus is up. Death shows that the Kingdom of God has won. When one dies, he opens his eyes. Death is the time when we see things as they really are. Death is the dramatic door that allows the sunset of our human dawn to “die” in the light of the everlasting day of God.

Now comes on stage also the other five brothers of the rich man (the sixth brother) who continue to live “carefree” in their riches. It is their way of living that makes them blind in front of the “seventh” (seven is a number that is the symbol of completeness) brother (Jesus) who is near, just over the door through which they don’t want to look because there is the wounded poor. They are blind in front of the Holy Scriptures (that yet are very clear).

The rich man of this parable doesn’t oppose God and doesn’t oppress the poor; he just doesn’t see him and lives as if God doesn’t exist nor has anything to do with him.

Now the rich man asks the poor for a drop of water for himself and to warn his brothers. What good would do to warn them? They have the prophets and Moses and don’t need anything else. There are not the voices that are missed, not the evidences, but the freedom to understand and the clear mind to see. It is the way of living as a rich man that makes blind.

The way to the Cross is a road of light that takes to Heaven. This road has a name: charity, with lot of synonyms: mercy, pity, compassion, sharing, solidarity, communion, unity, welcoming, participation and assumption.

The road that takes to Heaven is Called Christ. There are no other ways. There are no other roads. There are no other lanes. It is a love pure, true, real, spiritual, made of concreteness and of the gift of one’s life and riches that takes to Heaven. On this road we find the consecrated Virgins. On the day of their consecration the Bishop prayed: “Give them the warmth of love to love you above all others. Make their lives deserve praise without seeking to be praised. May they give you glory by holiness of action and purity of heart. May they love you and fear you; may they love you and serve you. Be you their glory, their joy, their whole desire. Be their comfort in sorrow, their wisdom in perplexity, their protection in the mist of justice.” ( Rite of the Consecration of the virgins)

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[i] From the Latin word epulae= food and epulum= banquet. In the pagan Roman world the noun indicated every member of the sacerdotal College who was in charge of organizing a solemn banquet on the occasion of the sacrifices in honor of Jupiter. In the Christian world referring to the main character of a well-known parable indicates a rich and selfish person, a glutton.

[ii]We don’t know the female version of the name. Its origins are very old and it has come to us through the transformation of the Jewish word El’azar, made of Elwhich is the short name for God and ‘azar which means to help. Lazarus means “God helps, God provides.” The general meaning is a form of thanksgiving to God.

The Work of God

Year C

- 26th Sunday in Ordinary time

19 There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen; and feasted sumptuously every day.
20 And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores,
21 Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and no one did give him; moreover the dogs came, and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.
23 And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom:
24 And he cried, and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.
25 And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that you received good things in your lifetime, while Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted; and you are tormented.
26 And besides all this, between you, and us there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from here to there, cannot, nor from there to here.
27 And he said: Then, father, I beseech you, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren,
28 That he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torments.
29 And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The first part of this story shows how someone is very rich and lives a life of luxury while another human being is extremely poor and has nothing to eat.

But what is it that I see in the world now? I see many people who have plenty to eat, who live their lives in comfort but who do nothing for the poor. Many rich don’t see the poor personally because they live in different parts of the cities. Many rich avoid being in contact with them altogether, so they think most people live like them and even though they know about the poor, they don’t care.

Charity, compassion, love, …where are you? The more I give to men, the more they continue their injustice to the poor, oh, how they feel so secure while others are starving, how they close their eyes and pretend the poor don’t exist, how they invent new ways to oppress the lower classes.

But as in the story of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, the time will come when the poor will die, and the rich will die too, and they will find themselves in different dwellings. The rich will go to the poorest place and will be deprived of happiness and glory; they will suffer punishment for their injustices while the poor will go tho their heavenly mansion to enjoy eternal life. And there you will have my prophecy fulfilled that the first will be last and the last will be first.

There are many who have faith in God expecting to be rewarded with glory in the life to come but ignore the very requisites for their salvation: justice, charity and love.

He who is generous and gives to those in need will receive much from me, but he who practices avarice and injustice is condemning himself. The poor will always be in the world to give an opportunity to those who have more than them to be generous and to show their love. True love for your neighbour is the best proof that you love me. It is never too late to amend your lives and to begin a life full of charity.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary