RICH MAN AND LAZZARUS

If you are one of the Jeepney passengers in the Philippines, you will not be indifferent to the suffering of the Jeepney drivers at this moment. More than 100,000 drivers launched a national strike against govt plans to provide new Jeepneys. A Jeepney driver says, “Govt is indifferent to our livelihood."

The theme for today is indifference or carelessness toward the other and it is visible in today's readings. We are called to be sympathetic, concerned and helpful to the other who is living next to us. As human beings we are responsible for others, we can not give God the irresponsible answer of Cain, "am I guardian of my brother?" 

1. The parable tells vividly the amount of wealth that separates the rich man from Lazzarus. Apart from this wealth, there is also Lazzarus' experience of suffering that has to be noted; Lazzarus body was full of sores, even dogs were licking his sores. The rich man was indifferent to the pain of Lazzarus all his lifetime. (In Old Testament, chronic diseases were considered cursing. Society had a lot of rules of isolation for the sick person because they wanted to care the society. In the parable of the good samaritan also, the two persons passed by on the other side being indifferent to the suffering of the other). 

Remember! physical suffering in this world is temporary suffering. Death puts an end to this. What the rich man was experiencing today in hell is "eternal torment". We need to show solidarity with the suffering ones in our temporary life. Solidarity is not merely a question of helping others, but it is more than that - it is a matter of justice.

2. The rich man and Lazarus had one thing in common. Both were Jews. Both were sons of Abraham. According to Torah, one Israelite should help another Israelite. In a special way, he should be concerned with the poor and abandoned. In this case, he disobeyed Torah also. He did not even concern his own family member. Charity begins at home. People who need our help are all around us. If our vision is focused on wealth, fame and power we may not care about them. 

3. Everyone should make this reflection, "Who is poor for you?". We may help the poor persons generously. But with what attitude? The rich man did not even have concerns about the poor Lazzarus in the next world. He argues with Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue. In his mind, Lazzarus  is still a slave, a work that he could command at any time and by whom he should be obeyed. The first reading is opening our eyes in regard to this. God is God. The poor are not God for you, we should treat him equally so that we identify Jesus in then. For Jesus said, "whatsoever you do to the least ones, you do to me" (Mt 25). In today's first reading, God curses the people who put their trust in human beings. We can share our love with the people, and we can help and feed them, but we cannot believe them, we can only believe in God. 

Be Merciful as God is merciful

BE MERCIFUL 

Which is best in front of God? To be perfect according to His mind? Or To be merciful like Him? 

Actually, both are same, but are different aspects of His identity. Matthew writes, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), which echoes Leviticus 19:2: "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." Luke makes a single but remarkable word change, "be merciful, just as your heavenly father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). 

Luke’s Gospel was believed to be written  10 to 15 years after the gospel of Matthew. Maybe it was Luke who wanted to change the way of looking at the holiness of God. How can we understand the word of Jesus as per today's gospel reading according to Luke? 

1. No one can be perfect, but everyone can show mercy. And in showing mercy we approach divine perfection. Luke records the perfection used by Matthew as the mercifulness of God.  

God's perfect life is donated to imperfect people. God's face is nothing but his mercy. When we say perfection, what comes to our minds are hardness, rigidity, and roughness. But the Mercy of God does not include inferiority, fear and negative feelings. Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world” (Jn 12:47). Jesus did not judge even his own murderers. Instead, He was thinking well of them, excusing them and praying for them: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). As His disciples, we are invited to be like the Master.

2. Throw away the judgemental attitude: There are two strong imperatives used in the sayings of Jesus; Stop judging and stop condemning. When Jesus says: “Do not judge”, Jesus is not prohibiting the exercise of our faculty of discernment, nor are we asked to approve everything that our brother does. What He is forbidding is to attribute an evil intention to the person for acting thus. Let us not spend time judging others for it is not our work. Rather, we are asked to help, discern and correct others who are traveling with us without taking the role of condemning. 

3. The flow of forgiveness: Just if we laugh at them, we think about their ignorance, and we have pity on them. It becomes mercy. Why they are just unable to understand the people? How small are still people? They are not exposed to the environment of love. It is written, "Give and gifts will be given to you": how can we understand. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father gave gfts to both the sons, but what did  he receive from them in return? Yet, the Father receives happiness. Remember there is no happiness in having or receiving, but rather in giving. If you want to remain satisfied, just give whatsoever you can, offer time, and give love in case of negligence. 

Surrendering is important to achieve the happiness, like the father by simply offering. In the first reading, Daniel prays to God, he surrenders to God, he surrenders the people. Daniel is satisfied. Happy. 

ASK, SEEK AND KNOCK (Mt 7:7-12)

Today’s gospel reading narrates many things, but one thing is prevalent, that is "interdependence". Jesus invites us strongly to come out from our self-centered living and to move towards other-centered living and therefore to God-centeredness. 

Most of us think very often that we can make it alone. At times, we understand that it is not possible at all. We are not created alone in this world. Please reflect on these three words; Ask, Seek, and Knock.  We cannot achieve anything if we do these three actions alone.  At times, we feel that asking for something is a humiliating experience,  we become weak and vulnerable if someone is helping us. We become shameful when help is denied if we have asked. We go near the door, yet we sometimes return without knocking because it will disturb other people. 

Not only in prayer but also in our social and commercial interactions we need to ask, seek and knock. Jesus says our Father in heaven is a God of goodness and benevolence. 

We may take as an example the prayer of the Queen Esther before she goes to the king to plead for the people. The implication is that it was not she who brought liberation to help people, but God, God alone. Esther seeks the presence of God to accompany her. In her childlike trust, she knocks, and the doors are opened for her. 

These are the simple messages from today's Gospel: 

• We are dependent as human beings. 
• We are here not to compete but to complement each other. 
• We need to collaborate and cooperate for the common good that brings success not confrontation with others.

GREATER THAN JONAH

Jonah 3:1-10. Lk 11:29-32, 1 March 2023, First Week of Lent

Both the readings of the day are centered on the name ‘Jonah’ which in Hebrew means ‘dove.’ Many Rabbis consider Jonah rather as a part of Midrashic literature than of prophetic literature. For, according to them, the Book of Jonah is presents a metaphor of the people of Israel. The Book of Jonah revolves around three persons: the people of Nineveh, God, and Jonah. At the beginning of the book, the people of Nineveh are sinful, God is angry, and Jonah is reluctant. At the end of the book, all the three undergo conversion: Nineveh repents, God relents, and Jonah retorts.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. Assyrians had captured the people of Israel in the Northern Kingdom in 723-722 BCE. Later the people of Israel developed a strong antipathy towards this enemy nation, and they wanted it to be destroyed. Jonah in fact presents a racist and angry face of such people. But God’s ways are different. Instead of punishing the Assyrians God becomes merciful to them. The people of Israel learn three things from this scenario: (i) It is not anger that heals but mercy; in fact, they begin to be merciful to foreign and enemy nations; (ii) God’s ways are his ways and we can’t question them; and (iii) In the world the evil is not always repaid.

In the gospel reading to his contemporaries, who were seeking a sign, Jesus offers them the signs of Solomon and Jonah. Solomon was considered the wisest person of the Judaic history. Jonah was considered a powerful preacher. As Jesus is the wisdom of God, he becomes greater than Solomon. And as he went about not only preaching, but also healing, he becomes greater than Jonah.

But unlike the queen of Sheba and the people of Nineveh, the contemporaries of Jesus refuse to believe in him. Jesus is greater than Jonah. The implication is that he demands greater conversion.

Thanks : Fr. Yesu K

The value and Meaning of Fasting (Mt 9:14-15)

The First reading and Gospel focus on the value of Fasting, which is one of the three penitential practices that are very dear to the biblical and Christian tradition – prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. I focus my reflections on the value and meaning of fasting through today's readings. 

1. Fasting helps to build self-control: Fasting becomes useless if it is more centered on oneself. God asks the people who do fasting not to worry what others see. 

2. Fasting is a great help to avoid sin and all that leads to it. In the Book of Genesis, we read the first commandment which is: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gn 2, 16-17).  ‘You shall not eat’ is a law of fasting and abstinence”. Through fasting, we become humble before God. 

Fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live in poor situation. The fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.

3. Fasting is a good ascetic practice, an instrument to battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person.

4. Fasting should help you to consider Jesus as a real bridegroom of your life and keep relationship with God. Wedding guests will rejoice when their bridegroom is with them. I am thinking especially of a greater commitment to prayer, lectio divina, recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and active participation in the Eucharist, especially the Holy Sunday Mass. 

Father's faith heals the son (Mk 9:14-29)

Mk 9:14-29

The Jewish family is a Patriarchal family. In every Family, the role of the father is very important, more than that of the mother. The mothers care about the growth of the child within the family, whereas fathers care about his contact with the world, work and his social relationships. He connects the child with society. The father makes the decisions for the family for his wife and children. Today's Gospel of Mark beautifully narrates the sacrificial father's requests to Jesus for healing. 

Just imagine yourself: There is a son possessed by the spirit, epileptic in front of a large crowd. This is a kind of social shame and humiliation for the father, because who will marry an epileptic child? How he will go to work to earn? In this case, a father will suffer more than a mother. That is why Jesus asked a particular question “How long has this been happening to him?” not only out of care for the possessed boy, but he wanted to know how long the father has been suffering for his child. The father replied, “Since childhood." 

1. Father's care and responsibility for his child include the capacity to suffer for him. That's what Jesus did. This story is introduced in the Gospel of Mark when the Messianic secret is revealed. Hereafter Jesus will predict his death and resurrection three times. Jesus will start to suffer for humanity. Jesus looks at this figure as his own image of carrying the sins of humanity until his death on the cross. We need to pray like this; God, Father, help us to follow the example of your son's patience in suffering. 

2. The disciples have been presented in the Gospel of Mark, are the persons of failure until the resurrection. The Father brought his son first to the disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so. It is good for us to direct our prayers and problems to the right person, Jesus himself. Sometimes, we need to know if the people  have the spirit of God. We cannot go to the persons who say that they are problem solvers, healers, and are well prepared, and still are not so. Disciples were not yet prepared until they experience the passion and death of Jesus. The Father shouted to Jesus, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” constantly doing this we revise our human pride. 

3. Prayer is the “intimate” dialogue with God. Saint John Paul II affirmed that “Prayer always brings with it a type of interior hiddenness with Christ in God. Only in this hiddenness do we see the work of the Holy Spirit.” Prayer will increase our faith in Jesus, and Faith will make miracles. 

CLEAR VISION OF LIFE WILL TAKE YOU TO SUCCESS!

Gen 8:6-13,20-22. Mk 8:22-26.

 

BE PATIENT FOR A CLEAR AND COMPLETE VISION OF LIFE!

 

Today’s readings bring before us two persons who see everything clearly. In the first reading, Noah sees the dry land; in the gospel reading, the blind man sees everything clearly. Though the verb ‘to see’ is used metaphorically in the Bible, referring to the internal eyes we mean, eyes of faith, in today’s reading it is used directly to refer to people's perfect sight to see God and earth.

The first reading narrates the immediate events that follow the Great Flood. Three events happen here: (i) after many years, Noah removed the covering of the ark, and it is written that the surface of the ground was drying up. What a miracle! Instead of seeing the sky, Noah sees the surface of the ground dried up. Noah insists on the necessity to look down; In fact, he sees with the eyes of God; (ii) Noah offers sacrifices to God. In pre-historic times every individual – Cain, Abel, Noah - was offering sacrifices to God; in the patriarchal era it was the fathers of the family or the clan who offered sacrifices (priesthood was developed later in this context) (iii) God is pleased with Noah’s offering and he promises that he would never harm humanity again. (remember God of Noah’s time is not a God of theology). 

 

In the gospel reading Jesus heals a blind man. Only in Mark do we listen to the healing of a blind man that happened in two stages. Both times, Jesus was on his ‘way’ to Jerusalem. These two instances serve as parables to explain the nature of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus is not able to give complete healing to the blind (they used to call ‘embarrassment texts’ of Mark.). Why Jesus did not cure him the first time? Blind man needs to do it for the second time. A blind man is brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him away from the village. So, when Jesus was healing him it was just he and Jesus. When he was able to see partially it was Jesus whom he saw. He says, ‘I am able to see men, but they look like trees, but they walk.’ These words reflect the nature of the disciples. Even though they were close to Jesus, they were not able to recognize him. Later when Jesus touched the man again he became totally alright. 

 

What are the lessons that we draw from today’s readings?

 

(i) Be patient during trials:  The floods in our life will also become dry one day. One cannot be sure that the flood will never appear in his life. Sometimes, God may send it purposedly into your life. So, it is possible in our life, the moments of the flood: the great destruction. As the neighboring people of Noah made fun of Noah building an ark in the desert, so some people around you, might frustrate you. Be patient, as Noah was patient for a number of years inside the ark. It takes a lot of courage to see the dry land.

 

(ii) Wait for Jesus to be touched for complete healing: It is not easy to get a good and perfect vision all the time. God allows us gradual healing of truth. Since evil is intrinsic in our hearts, we need to be carefully watchful. The Book of Proverbs beautifully says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Prov 4:23). We will be able to see Jesus, the people, and the creation (trees) in truth, only if we allow Jesus to touch us.