St. Casimir 

St. Katharine Drexel, virgin

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Jeremiah 17:5-10

This is what Yahweh says,

  “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings and depends on a mortal for his life, while his heart is drawn away from Yahweh! He is like a bunch of thistles in dry land, in parched desert places, in a salt land where no one lives and who never finds happiness.

Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Yahweh and whose confidence is in him!  He is like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots towards the stream. He has no fear when the heat comes, his leaves are always green; the year of drought is no problem and he can always bear fruit.

Most deceitful is the heart. What is there within man, who can understand him?  I, Yahweh, search the heart and penetrate the mind. I reward each one according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds.

 

Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 16:19-31

Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table.

Even dogs used to come and lick his sores.  It happened that the poor man died and angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.  From hell where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest.

 He called out: ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus with the tip of his finger dipped in water to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire.’ Abraham replied: ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune.

Now he is in comfort and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you or from your side to us.’

The rich man implored once more: ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my father’s house where my five brothers live. Let him warn them so that they may not end up in this place of torment.’  Abraham replied: ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ 

But the rich man said: ‘No, Father Abraham. But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Abraham said: ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

 

Gospel Reflection：

The rich man is a sorry character in this gospel. It is not his fault that he is rich. He enjoys the legitimate fruit of his labor. He has not done harm to anyone. Yet in spite of this, he was punished when he died.

It is not so much because he commissioned sinful acts. It is rather the sin of omission that condemned him. He was not aware of his surroundings that is why he did not see the suffering of the poor man Lazarus outside his gate.

His luxurious life made him blind to the greater community where he lived. He was too entertained to see beyond his own comfortable life. We need to cultivate mindfulness to see beyond our own interest.

We live not only for ourselves. May our awareness that we are linked with other life forms make us aware of our duty to help them live life to the fullest.