The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to accept the invitation to full life through our relationship to Christ and our love for our neighbours.
The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah proclaims True Wisdom.
f. [17:10] Jer 32:19; 1 Sm 16:7; Eccl 12:14. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB, n.d.)
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 presents the Parable 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.)
Jay Carney comments that in Dilexit Nos, his recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis reminds Christians that the heart is the center of the human person. It is the “locus of sincerity” that reflects our “true intentions,” the “naked truth about ourselves” that encompasses who we really are (DN 5). Our hearts are created by Love and for love. Such love is demonstrated first and foremost not in emotions, intentions, theological explanations, or even prayers, but rather “by concrete actions” (DN 33). “Heartlessness”—the failure to bother to love— thus stands at the origin of sin in a “world [that] is losing its heart” (DN 22).
For Luke’s Rich Man, the road to hell is paved in heartlessness. Despite the persistent calls of Israel’s prophets to care for the widow, orphan, alien, and the poor, the Rich Man has “dined sumptuously each day” with no regard for the Lazarus who lays at his door. His heart is “turned away from the Lord,” as Jeremiah cries out in the first reading, precisely because he disregards the immediate needs of his neighbor in need. He has failed to bother to love. (Carney, n.d.)
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, 2025)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10 comets that reflecting on this passage, Pope Francis noted, “We all have this weakness, this frail tendency to place our hopes in ourselves or in our friends or in human possibilities alone, and we forget the Lord” (Morning Meditation, March 20, 2014).
The more we are able to trust in the Lord, especially in difficult times, the more we will be rooted in his life, just like that tree in today’s reading. Not only will we survive in times of heat and drought, but we will also be able to bear fruit for him and his kingdom (Jeremiah 17:8). That’s because we are drawing on God’s abundant grace rather than relying on our own meager resources—and what a blessing that is!
“Lord Jesus, help me to quiet my soul and turn to you first in every challenge I face.” (Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that Jeremiah exhorts us not to trust human hearts but to trust in the Lord. Our survival in “dry seasons” is through connection to the Lord. Friar Jude notes that Luke alerts us to the warnings that nudge us to attend to the needs of others.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Theologian Karen González who recalls meeting a woman who acted with compassion, regardless of her outspoken beliefs about specific policies.
According to Jesus’s explanation … it is the good deed that counts, not the yes with good intentions…. [Mrs. Fisher] was doing God’s will, but did she believe God’s words about welcoming and doing justice for the immigrant?
It is impossible for me to know, because I never saw her again. Yet, I would not be surprised if she had, because it has been my experience that we often practice ourselves into new ways of being and believing. I always thought that belief precedes action, and sometimes it does. But all too often, it is practices that shape us, that change our beliefs and help us internalize them in ways that are transformative. We learn by doing. I wonder if Mrs. Fisher now proclaims hospitality in addition to practicing hospitality. I hope so. (Rohr, n.d.)
We implore the Spirit to guide us to choose compassion over indifference when we have an opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in need.
References
Carney, J. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/032025.html
Jeremiah, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/17?5
Luke, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/16?19
Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/03/20/1229839/
Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Faithful to Compassion. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/faithful-to-compassion/
Schwager, D. (2025, March 20). Lazarus Was Carried to Abraham's Bosom. Daily Scripture net. https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=mar20
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