How accepting and welcoming are we of others? Of our life situations both the difficult and joyful ones? As we grow older the more we encounter and meet people and experience different life situations. Yet, with all of these we could also display an attitude that does not take delight with what comes to us or ignore people, things and events that have become usual and ordinary.
We could become less aware of God’s revelations and invitations because of the many demands we have in life, or because we are feeling bored with life, or because we have become so anxious of what will be there for us tomorrow. We could also grow rejecting of anybody and anything because it does not excite us or give us benefits and advantages.
This is somehow what Jesus wanted to warn for his disciples who have grown cold with one another. Their relationship with each other seemed to become centered on the self, on what they will enjoy and on what they will accumulate. In fact, their relationship has become materialistic and based on self-interest.
This was how Jesus found the intentions of the hearts of the disciples. They were arguing who was the greatest among them because they must have thought that being the greatest, then, they would become the closest to Jesus. They believed that Jesus would become king, inherit an earthly and materialistic kingdom and enjoy political power over many peoples. They wanted to be the greatest and the closest to Jesus so that they too will receive great material rewards.
However, such intention of their hearts turned them to become bitter with each one. There must be malice and greed in their hearts for they cannot recognize that the presence of Jesus himself is already the greatest reward. This was the reason why Jesus brought a child by his side to set an example to them. The child, now the closest to Jesus is the greatest in the kingdom because of the child’s capacity to receive God, to welcome God and to be delighted with God’s presence.
The child who is considered one of the least in that community, was indeed the greatest, because the child does not relate base on benefits but on the child’s dependence to God’s providence. This is evident on how a child completely trusts his/her parents and the goodness of others around him/her.
This is what the story of Job also reveals to us today. In this first part of the Book of Job, he was blessed with many good things in life, property and good family, yet everything was taken away from him. Job remained trusting to God’s providence and goodness even when his life turned bitter and the events traumatic and depressing. Job prayed, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Thus, the Lord calls us today to grow in our capacity to receive God, to welcome people and events in our life like a child who completely trusts the goodness and kindness of others. As we grow in that capacity, may we become more welcoming also of others in our life, and receptive of God’s invitations and revelations even when our life gets rough. Kabay pa.
How serious do you think is the economic inequality in the world today? According to Oxfam International’s findings, the economic inequality has cut the income of 99% of the global population and this pushed for over 160 million people in the world into poverty.[1] In fact, according also to World Inequality Report2022, the poorest half population in the world only owns 2% of the world’s wealth. However, the richest people who comprised 10% in the population possess the 76% of the world’s wealth.[2] This inequality has deepened in the midst of this pandemic in which those who are in the poverty line have suffered the most. As a result, it contributed to the 21,000 people dying everyday or equivalent to one person dying in every four seconds who suffered because of severe hunger or lack of access to life-saving healthcare.[3]
There is so much wealth in the world, yet, the suffering of many seemed to be endless as well. The economic and wealth inequality in the world has indeed widened the gap between the rich and the poor to the point that a culture of indifference and lack of concern has crept in the hearts of many. This is something that Pope Francis has already pointed out and wants us to be more aware.
Being reminded of this global situation, our readings on this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time shed light and challenge to us Christians today. So, allow me to journey with you together with our youth sharer and let us discover how God reminds us and calls us.
Thus, in the first reading, Prophet Amos denounced such culture of indifference and the gap made by those in power and the rich. The Prophet’s voice echoed, “Woe to the COMPLACENT in Zion!”
The complacency of the rich and the privilege in their society turned them to become INDIFFERENT AND BLIND to the suffering of the people. They were unaware of the suffering of many. Yet, if they have seen the pain of the people but they refused to reach out, refused to help though they can, refused to be in solidarity with the suffering for fear of discomfort.
Complacency is an attitude that settles to what is only comfortable for the self. Hence, a complacent person is a self-satisfied person who does not what to be disturbed or to go out of the comfort zone. That is why, a curse was given to the complacent and indifferent. They will be the first to go into exile when Assyria will strike Israel and destroy their Temple, which indeed happened.
Meanwhile, our Psalm this Sunday sings to us God’s very character. The Lord secures justice for the oppressed, food to the hungry, sets captives free, gives sight to the blind and raises up those who were bowed down. This image of God tells us that God is not blind and not indifferent to the suffering of the people and the pain inflicted to the weak and powerless.
God, indeed, does not delight when people are oppressed, when women, men and children go hungry, when people suffer and die because of greed and abuses of others. In God’s time and justice, those who abused, manipulated, maltreated and burdened the weak, the poor and the powerless will be punished.
Certainly, Prophet Amos’ words and the Psalm’s message echo in the Gospel today which we find in the story of Mr. Rich Man and the suffering Lazarus.
While Mr. Rich Man enjoyed his daily lavish meal and luxurious way of life, there at his door was a poor man covered with sores and was surviving through the scraps that fell from the Mr. Rich Man’s table.
However, there was a turn of events when both of them died. Mr. Rich Man, who pretended not to see the poor situation of Lazarus ended in hell while Lazarus was carried by the angels.
With this, the Gospel reminds us that success and security in life are not about what we have accumulated or about the material possession that we have amassed. We are only truly successful and secured when we have built lasting and true relationships with people around us and with God, when we have learned to bridge the gap between one another and begin to see each other as brothers and sisters. Only then, that we shall break our sin of indifference, of our lack of concern for others, of our complacency.
Thus, let us remember that the sin of Mr. Rich Man was not actually of being rich, but of being complacent and indifferent to the suffering of people around him and especially of his neighbor, Lazarus. He could have done something for Lazarus, but chose not to. He was blinded by his own possessions and the luxury he enjoyed. He did not care to offer any help to the poor man. The rich man had no relationship whatsoever with Lazarus. He was only concerned of himself, of his comfort, of his benefits, a sign that he was truly being possessed by his possessions. He hoped and trusted only his wealth and himself.
This was how Mr. Rich Man had grown ungrateful to God for the gifts he received in his lifetime. He was ungrateful because he felt entitled that only him should enjoy the richness in his life. He did not open his eyes and hands to give others a chance to live a better life through his help. Thus, Mr. Rich Man had certainly grown to become an entitled-privileged that even though he was already in the netherworld but then he had still the nerve to make Lazarus serve him. What a self-serving man, indeed!
With all of these, there are three invitations for us in order to break that culture of indifference and bridge the gap between each of us which Pope Francis also calls us to do.[4]
First, to be in the service of others rather than to dominate others. The Lord calls us to show our concern and kindness especially to people who are most in need. Our material resources or even our talents and strengths can be best expressed at the service of others.
Second, to look at others rather than looking out only for one’s own interest. The Lord reminds us not to become indifferent and unconcerned with the realities of suffering around us and not to think only for ourselves and our own good alone. As a community, we are called to take care of each other.
Third, to have a renewed awareness of the dignity of every human being. We are created in the image of God. We may also see and recognize always that each one is God’s image. Only then, that we are also able to acknowledge that we are all sisters and brothers and not treat each other with contempt and hostility because of our differences but in compassion and respect that allow life to nourish as God desires it. Kabay pa.
Once a very rich man approached their parish priest for an advice. He said to the priest, “Father, I have a problem that is bothering me a lot. You know how rich I am. I have everything I need. I get everything I want. But how come I feel I’m not fully satisfied? There is always that emptiness & missing in me that do not satisfy. I maybe rich outside, but I am actually poor inside. What do you think of my problem, Father?” The priest invited the rich man in his living room and brought him near the glass window. And the priest instructed him, “Look out into the window and tell me what you see.” He said, “I see people walking around the plaza.” Then, the priest brought him in front of a large mirror and said, “Look into the mirror and tell me what you see.” “I see myself,” he replied. Then the priest explains, “You know what, both the window and the mirror are made of glass. But their difference lies in the silver paint. As you may notice, the mirror is glass coated with silver paint & the window is just a plain see-through glass. So, whenever you look through a plain glass window, you see people – you see others. But whenever you looked at silver-coated plain glass mirror, you will only see yourself – not others. You cannot see other & you even stop seeing others, but only yourself. So, whenever we start to only concern ourselves with wealth and riches, i.e. coating our plain glasses with silver-money, we start to become blind to see others but only see ourselves.”
Reflecting on this story and our parable today, we can say that it somehow echoes our day-to-day life experiences. Conscious of the hard times we are going through these days – not only in our country & in our world but with ourselves, sometimes we wonder what causes the great gap between rich and poor. What makes poor poorer or desolate? What makes rich richer? What makes life difficult nowadays? What makes me poor or rich? What makes my life difficult or easy these days?
This is what Jesus is trying to teach and convey us today.
First, Jesus describes us that our self-centeredness makes us blind, insensitive, & unconcerned to the needs of others. Just like the rich man in our parable today, he was too full of himself that he was unconcerned about the poor Lazarus at his doorsteps. He was too full of himself that even before God, he was more concerned with himself – his own thirst and salvation that he only perceived Lazarus as his errand to quench his thirst and to warn his own family about his fate in heaven. “Send him..” the rich man said, to command even God for Lazarus to do his wishes. So full of himself… conceited, & self-centered. Here Jesus warns us of the consequence of our self-centeredness. It makes us only see our own selves, making us blind to the needs of others, most especially the poor.
Second, Jesus maintains also that our silver-coatings taints our plain glasses. Meaning, our material possessions, wealth, and riches make us self-centered and greedy. Like the rich men in our story and in our parable, money, and earthly possessions taint and distort our perceptions of others. Our materialism makes us selfish and blind to the needs of other people, making us only view life from our selfish mirrors.
At the same time, Jesus is telling us today that all of these, our greed, self-centeredness, and earthly possessions do not give us meaning in life and promise us our salvation. For Jesus, God has endowed us with a lot of blessings not only for own sake but also for others. It would mean that we are not the sole owners but just stewards or managers of God’s graces. The blessings & graces we have now are meant not only for ourselves but to be shared with & to others. We are called therefore to be partakers & sharers of God’s blessings to others. In God’s Kingdom, sharing not hoarding is the name of the game, & the way forward.
In a sense, God has already given us looking glasses to see. It is up to us then how we use our glasses – either as mirrors for our selfish interest or as windows for further growth in our relationship with God and concerns for others. In other words, our mirrors – our self-centeredness makes life poor, difficult & empty, as well as our windows – our other-centeredness makes our life rich, easy, & meaningful.
May the Lord continue to grant us the wisdom and audacity to make use of our God-given blessings be shared with others for the sake, not of ours alone, but mostly for God’s glory & other’s good. Amen.
We seek and enjoy what is fun and entertaining. We take delight and feel happy when the moment brings excitement and pleasure to our senses. This is how the market also captures what we are looking and seeking for. From music, to movies, short funny videos, mobile games and the different social media and entertainment apps and websites, they provide and give entertainment to us though temporary. This is also how we see the surge of social media influencers who bring funny, captivating, intriguing and exciting videos to us.
And more than these, there are also those who seek self-satisfaction at the expense of others by abusing, maltreating and depriving the weak. Women, men and even children have become a commodity to sex and human traffickers. Others continue to crave with addictive substances and behaviors in order to fill the deep emptiness in their life though these only led many to oblivion and losing oneself in the process.
These are the realities of life. Yet, more than these we are called to embrace life in its fullness together with its pains and joys, shadows and lights. This is the very reason why the words in the Book of Ecclesiastes in today’s reading make more sense.
The author of the book tells us, rejoice while you are young and let your hearts be glad in the days of your youth. Indeed, there is so much to enjoy and be thankful for in life especially in our youth though this is transitory. However, it is in our youth that we discover more and understand better ourselves and the world around us. It is in our youth that the Lord allows us to have more failures and disappointments so that we may learn, grow and gain wisdom.
Although the Book of Ecclesiastes may sound pessimistic in life for everything, as he said, vanishes like a vapor, for all things are vanity. However, he also acknowledged how the Lord unfolds His Divine Presence and blessings for us in the many events and moments of our life. The Lord will judge us then, based on our capacity in fully embracing life and rejoicing our youth in its fullness.
Therefore, rejoicing one’s youth and letting our hearts be glad in the days of our youth calls us to be more attuned to God’s way of life. Let us remember, God is life-creating, life-redeeming and life-sanctifying. Thus, anything that destroys life, abuses life and suppresses the fullness of life, may it be in our life or the life of others, is contrary to God’s way of life. This is the author wants us to ward off and put away from our presence.
In the same way, Jesus tells us today in Luke’s Gospel, “pay attention to what I am saying.” The disciples did not pay attention to him when Jesus told them of suffering and death he will undergo. It was either the disciples cannot understand or refused to understand the life of Jesus and his mission. All they wanted was to be just amazed and be entertained by the miracles that Jesus has been doing. However, Jesus is life-redeeming and this is not found in mere amazement and entertainment but in giving oneself for the many.
So, let us all rejoice while we are young and let our hearts be glad as we make our life attuned in God’s way of life. Kabay pa.
We could easily lose track of time when we are overwhelmed by our workloads, business engagements, study loads and many other responsibilities in life. This makes our day tiring, stressful and hectic to the point that time has become so short in order to respond to all the things we have on our hands. And when we cannot meet all the demands, then, we also lose ourselves. We get sick psychologically and physically. Relationships tend to be left behind and not given more importance.
Aside from these, people also lose time from hiding from their unfounded fears because our anxieties could eat up most of our time to think and discern. Others are perhaps petrified by their traumatic past unable to move and go beyond and losing the opportunity to grow and mature. Meanwhile, others could be busy in indulging themselves in compensating what have been deprived from them in the past to the point that their self-satisfaction is what only matters. All of these would certainly make our life unbalanced and our time disturbed and losing many chances to take life at a time.
Indeed, there is an appointed time for everything, as the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us. An appointed time that would allow us to breathe, to relax, to begin, to be renewed and to be surprised by the many things that God has prepared in time.
When we race against time or even take for granted time, then, we shall surely miss those surprising and wonderful things that are happening around us. We shall also lose the chances to behold the beauty and the goodness of people around us.
That is why, Jesus in today’s Gospel teaches us a simple lesson. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was praying in solitude while the disciples were with him. His friends were there, but Jesus was in solitude, meaning, he was praying alone. We see from here that Jesus took the time to rest, relax, to gather his mind, to pray and to commune with his Father in heaven. Jesus was setting the example to his disciples to have a time for everything and especially a time to pray and a time to behold God’s presence.
Indeed, such time and encounter allowed Peter to recognize that Jesus is the “Christ of God.” Peter in that opportune time understood that God has revealed the Divine Presence to him.
This calls us now as well to have time for everything and to allow ourselves to have a quality time with the Lord. In the midst of our overwhelming demands in life, or in the midst of the chaos and internal conflicts we are suffering from, we may find time for Jesus to reveal his challenges and blessings to us. Find time to breathe. Find time to rest. Find time to pray. Find time for Jesus. Kabay pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 