The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to trust God to guide our journey to respond to the people we encounter with love and compassion.
The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah presents True Wisdom.
Psalm 1 contrasts the Two Ways.
* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Luke, compares the fate of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
* [16:19–31] The parable of the rich man and Lazarus again illustrates Luke’s concern with Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor. The reversal of the fates of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:22–23) illustrates the teachings of Jesus in Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:20–21, 24–25).
* [16:19] The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke dating from ca. A.D. 175–225 records the name of the rich man as an abbreviated form of “Nineveh,” but there is very little textual support in other manuscripts for this reading. “Dives” of popular tradition is the Latin Vulgate’s translation for “rich man” (Lk 16:19–31).
* [16:23] The netherworld: see note on Lk 10:15.
* [16:30–31] A foreshadowing in Luke’s gospel of the rejection of the call to repentance even after Jesus’ resurrection. (Luke, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB, n.d.)
Julie Kalkowski comments that we know Jesus’ parables are not so tidy. Jesus is using Lazarus and the rich man to challenge us to see and hear who we are failing to see and hear in our own lives. Given the chaos in our world that is constantly creating so many more “Lazaruses”, Julie asks “How can I even see them all? How can I respond to such pain and overwhelming suffering?
The short answer is that I can’t, none of us can. But I can see the “Lazaruses” in my neighborhood. I can also join with others who are trying to reduce some aspect of human misery. For example, many people in Nebraska petitioned and wrote letters to our Governor to change his mind about accepting federal aid to feed children this summer. He finally relented and agreed to accept this funding. Will there still be hungry children in Nebraska this summer? Yes, but thanks to the people who saw and heard and acted on this issue, there won’t be as many.
We can’t end all suffering, but we are all called to do something.
“We become the vehicles, the instruments of God’s compassion.
Every time we open ourselves to the needs of others,
God uses us to show them the meaning of love.”
Cardinal Basil Hume (Kalkowski, 2024)
Don Schwager quotes “Creator of both rich and poor,” by Augustine of Hippo, 3540-430 A.D.
"God made both the rich and the poor. So the rich and the poor are born alike. You meet one another as you walk on the way together. Do not oppress or defraud anyone. One may be needy and another may have plenty. But the Lord is the maker of them both. Through the person who has, He helps the one who needs - and through the person who does not have, He tests the one who has." (excerpt from Sermon 35, 7) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10 comments that Jeremiah uses the vivid imagery of thriving desert plants when he encourages the people of Jerusalem to be like “the man who trusts in the Lord” (17:7). They will be like a tree planted beside the water, stretching out its roots to the stream and storing reserves of life-giving water so that its leaves stay green (17:8).
We all face “deserts” or “scorching heat” in our lives. You might experience sickness, loss, or relationship struggles. God may seem far away, or the world around you may seem shrouded in darkness. These are the very times that you need to hang onto your trust in God. So keep stretching your roots toward your source of life. And tap into the living water that you have already collected.
“Lord Jesus, your words are the source of life-giving water for me!” (Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that Jeremiah speaks of those cursed and blessed in a typical Jewish way as he urges us to trust in the Lord on our journey. The purple robe of the rich man indicated extreme wealth yet we are given Lazarus name but the rich man is not worth naming. Friar Jude is reminded by the parable that faith expresses itself in compassion to those most in need.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Anglican theologian Maggie Ross who writes of tears of anger as an opportunity to “cleanse” our anger and pain.
Most of the time our anger is due to unwillingness to face the hurt we feel and the real reasons behind it. To learn to weep in order to be free of anger and know “rest” does not obviate self-respect and is not related to putting oneself down.
On the contrary, if we are struggling to seek God single-heartedly, to learn to weep the anger out of ourselves is a matter of self-respect.
The idea of tears washing anger from us is alien to the mores of power-oriented Western society. We are conditioned to justify our anger, to find the right place to put blame, and to always feel good about ourselves. Most of us associate anger and tears with tears that spring from anger, not tears that cleanse us from anger. But … tears of anger are themselves … a sign of choice, of potential change. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)
We are troubled to comprehend the pain and suffering we witness in God’s creation and we seek the consolation of the Spirit through the love we exercise toward the people we encounter most impacted by these situations.
References
Jeremiah, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/17?5
Kalkowski, J. (2024, February 29). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022924.html
Luke, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/16?19
Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/02/29/903639/
Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Anger and Grief. YouTube: Home. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/anger-and-grief/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Lazarus Was Carried to Abraham's Bosom. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=feb29
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