Daily Gospel for Thursday March 1, 2018

Gospel, Luke 16:19-31

'There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day.

And at his gate there used to lie a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores,

who longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man's table. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham's embrace. The rich man also died and was buried.

'In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace.

So he cried out, "Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames."

Abraham said, "My son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony.

But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours."

'So he said, "Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father's house,

since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too."

Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them."

The rich man replied, "Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent."

Then Abraham said to him, "If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead."

Reflection on the Gospel of the Lord

Today's Gospel is a story of a rich man live his life to fullest and at his gate is a poor man named Lazarus who is covered in sores and longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man's table. But the rich man didn't care and didn't bother to give him food or water and even the dogs came to lick the sores of the poor man. It cam to happen that the poor man died and was carried away by the angles into Abraham's embrace and the rich man also died and was buried and went straight to hell.

If you have a chance to choose, what you would be? To be rich and live a luxurious life with nice clothes and eat delicious food and to have everything you want? Or to be poor and live like a beggar were you don't have a home and don't have food to eat? As a human being, the obvious choice is to be rich and live a comfortable life. To become is more attractive than to be poor right? But we should not only consider the outer aspect of life, but we should also look deeper on the inner lives of these two people and the effects to their eternal souls.

But this is not the point of our Lord Jesus Christ in this story. What Jesus meant is that it shouldn't matter whether you are rich or poor but what really is important is we follow the Lords teachings. While we live here on earth we repent and are ready to follow the words of the Lord. And we believe in the Lord and always keep our eyes open to the true riches of Heaven.

There are those who are rich but have a humble heart and help those who are in need. There are also those who are poor but don't believe in the Lord. So it doesn't matter is you are rich or not. The important lesson here is we always do our part as followers of the Lord and always reach out to the people who are in need. If we have something that we can share, then share it to others.