Reading I: Jeremiah 17:5-20,
Psalm 1:1-4,6,
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31 Full Readings
Happy the one who has placed his trust in the Lord
The first and the Gospel reading point out very clearly that the one who trusts in the Lord will never be put to shame whatever circumstances he or she passes through, He is far better than those who place his trust in human beings and even earthly things.
Jeremiah compares the one who places his trust in God as a tree near the waterside, and it cannot be affected by any drought and will flourish forever. Most of the time we speak of trust in relationships, families, at work, in businesses, in the political arena, and other areas, for sure it is good to develop that trust, for when we trust we are also trusted.
In whatever we do we need trust, otherwise we shall be overwhelmed by the devil of suspicion and thus no efficiency. This trust does not just come in one day, it is a process of entering into a loving relationship with someone, it takes time, it is built over time, through our experiences with the person. When we have reached that level of intimacy characterised by trust, then the other becomes one of us.
This is what happens to us when we place our trust in God, He becomes part of our lives and what we shall be doing is his will. We shall not be shaken in any way. Therefore our ultimate trust should be in God for he can never let us down, like the way the rich man in the Gospel would not respond to the needs of Lazarus. Brethren, we have to Know that we need each other in this world, whether rich or poor, for no man is an island. Remember, I am because you are as John Mbiti points it out. As a rich man, you will never be happy when your neighbor is very poor, when he has no food, no clothing and basic needs, while you even feed your dogs and even throw out the surplus. You might pretend you are Happy but your conscience tells you what you are doing is wrong, it's your judgement which lies inside you. You will be happy with tranquility of the soul when you reach out to that poor and help him out. Socially speaking, the rich are always not at peace, any time they think that something might happen to their assets. Since they have not helped the poor , the poor will come for what they miss from you, the rich who have it in abundance. Therefore there lies no happiness even in this world if we don't pay attention to the suffering and poor.
We have to remember that there might also be a tendency of not trusting in God but in our riches, and for real, without God we have virtual happiness. Jesus also teaches there is no happiness for such a person who pays no attention to the poor ( for the poor are the anawim of Yahweh) even in the after life as presented by the discourse on rich man and Lazarus in the gospel today.
One of my group members asked me, is this what Jesus meant that it's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. I responded that the rich will surely enter the kingdom of God if only they don't exploit the poor, if they share their riches with the poor, not trust their riches and work for the good of humanity. But for sure unless we care for the poor, be concerned about them, then we are not doing the work of God.
Who are the poor? Here I mean the economically poor, those who even lack the basic needs of the day, and these are many within our societies.
The second group of the poor are the sociologically poor, the ones who are abandoned, excluded from Society, hated such as mad men, sinners, the ones whose voices are unheard and others. In this group even the economically rich can be sociologically poor. All these need our attention, we need to work for Justice and a harmonious society by showing the concern for everybody. This is nourished by the word of God, the preaching of his chosen people and examples of those trying to do the work of God.
This will help us to be Godlike and thus obtain eternal life. Let us work for our own happiness and for the happiness of others which will determine our happiness in the next life.
Work hard, be rich and help the poor. The Poor people should also work hard to get out of their poverty. Above all trust in the Lord for his divine Providence and happiness.
Blessed Lenten period
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