'Striving to be 'CHRIST in the World'

My dear friends,

The 1st Reading this weekend comes from the prophet Amos. He was active around 800 BC, preaching in the Northern part of Israel. While this period was one of great material prosperity for Israel, it was also one of social and religious corruption, the rich got richer and the poorer got poorer. Amos saw this injustice and, having the same mind of God about it all, called for the rich elite to act in alleviating the misery of the poor and destitute.
In the gospel we hear again of this stark contrast between rich and poor. On the one hand we have the rich man with his fine clothes and feasting lavishly at table. And, on the other hand, the wretched beggar, who is “covered with sores”. He is in a sorry state who longs to feed himself with the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table, but they are beyond his reach – if only someone would reach out to him!
The rich man does no positive harm to Lazarus; he simply doesn’t notice him – or doesn’t want to notice him – despite the fact that he lies at his gateway day after day. Eventually, both men die, and then the tables are turned! The rich man faces the torments of Hades, and Lazarus finds himself in everlasting bliss (i.e. the bosom of Abraham). The rich man cries out for help and assistance, but it is too late, the gulf between them is unbridgeable: Lazarus can’t bring even a drop of cold water to relieve the thirst of the rich man. This story smacks of, ‘what goes around, comes around’!
The rich man thinks quickly, remembering his family that are still alive and makes an urgent request of Abraham – ‘get Lazarus to warn them so they don’t make the same mistake as I did!’ Abraham responds, “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”. In other words, ‘their minds and hearts are closed – no one is going to get through to them’. Perhaps an illustration of the world today and the persistent hardness and disconnectedness of the human heart! By the way, Jesus also rose from the dead, and not all were convinced by what he had to say!
Interesting scriptures this weekend folks, leaving us with the question as to how far does Jesus’ teaching break through into our hearts and minds and then bear fruit?
Have a good week!

Fr Brett

'We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.'

Oscar Romero