Introduction
Those
who place their faith in themselves and in the means they possess
are not open to God or God’s kingdom. They make themselves their own
gods and adore what they have made. They adore the golden calf. They
fail to see the needs of others, especially of the poor. Those who
have more are not condemned because they have more, but because they
don’s see the needs of those who have less. We must learn to see also
the unspoken needs of the poor, especially of the humble, of those
who dare not voice their poverty and distress.
Opening
Prayer
Lord
our God,
many of us never had it so good
and so we have become smug and self-satisfied,
happy in our own little world.
God, may our ears remain open to your word
and our hearts to you
and to our brothers and sisters.
Do not allow us to forget you,
or to place our trust in ourselves.
Make us restless for you
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading: Jer 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.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R
(40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed
the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the Lord
and meditates on his law day and night.
R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He
is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not
so, the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the Lord watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Gospel
Reading: Lk 16:19-31
Jesus said to his disciples, “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 grave.’”
Commentary
WE
must trust in God and be like trees planted by running water (the
Word of God and the Spirit in the community that reads the Word
together). We must have no fear and bear fruit no matter the weather.
Our God searches us and knows our hearts and will judge us each
truthfully according to our deeds. Jesus tells the story of Dives
(the rich man) and Lazarus, the beggar, treated worse than the
dogs at his gate. And judgment is rendered. Abraham, the father
of faith takes Lazarus to his bosom and Dives is left to suffer
in agony. Even then Dives treats Lazarus as a servant to ease
his pain, or go tell his brothers and save them. But the chasm
is fixed now-it was a gate outside a house on earth. We are warned:
we must obey the law and the prophets and care for the poor, the
widow and orphan, the alien and the stranger or we will not even
be able to hear the Word of Jesus, crucified and risen from the
dead. Jesus, help us listen and obey your word of good news to
the poor and look just outside our gates now and do justice for
the majority who cry out now while we can. Save us and let us
see that it is the poor who call us to compassion and justice.
Amen.
General
Intercession
–
For the poor and the destitute, for those who live at the margin of
society, we pray:
–
For those whose hearts are hardened and who no longer see the needs
and the cravings of the poor, we pray:
–
For poor countries of the third or the fourth world, that they may
have due access to the riches of the world, we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
God, you know what is in us
and where our treasure is.
Give us faith not in ourselves
or in what our hands have made,
but in what we can build up
together with you and with your Son,
so that what we are and do
may be both a gift from your goodness
and the fruit of our work,
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer
after Communion
Open
our ears, Lord God,
to the words that Jesus speaks to us,
that we may believe in your future
and build up a better world.
Open our eyes to the needs of those who suffer,
that we may care for you in them;
Open our hearts to you,
that we may love and praise you
for ever and ever.
Blessing
Eyes
to see the needs of people, ears to hear their cries for justice,
mercy, a fair share in the goods of the earth, material and spiritual,
that is what we all need very much. May almighty God be good to you
and give you these. May he bless you, the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit.