2nd Week of Lent (C) : Thursday 20th March 2025

Do we exclude the poor from hope and reserve it only for the rich? ‘The Lord Jesus loves to condemn the RICH and favour the POOR!’ This blanket statement is a faulty generalisation. A careful reading of the evangelists would tell us that it was not the wealthy people that Jesus targeted, but rather, the attitude of being self-obsessed and unwilling to make room for compassionate sharing of goods to those in dire need.

In the parable of “the rich man and Lazarus,” the rich man who lives and dines luxuriously does not even bat an eye at Lazarus until he finds himself tormented by hell’s fire in the netherworld. In a similar vein, Pope Francis, in his encyclical Dilexit Nos, warned us about the danger of such ideological individualism. He wrote, “A society dominated by narcissism and self- centeredness will increasingly become ‘heartless.’ This will, in turn, lead to the ‘loss of desire,’ since as other persons disappear from the horizon, we will find ourselves trapped within walls of our own making, no longer capable of healthy relationships, […including] with God.” No longer capable of being hospitable, we deceive ourselves that everything is subjected to us.

Jesus beckons us to be hospitable to any “Lazarus” who might be at our doorstep. For did not our Lord once tell us that if we help anyone in dire need, we are actually doing it for Him? (cf. Matthew 25:40)

Nourish us, O Lord with Your grace, that we may transmit the goods of hope due to others.