The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in today's Gospel would often make me give myself a prideful pat on the back.
I would never nonchalantly ignore a poor man lying in front of my house while he suffered. I read that parable with a certain comfortability. My heart aches for the poor and the suffering, therefore, praise God, I am nothing like the rich man.
Then one day the Lord humbled me with an image.
As I read this Gospel reading, I perceived the suffering Jesus, waiting for me to go to Him. However, I walked past Him repeatedly and went about my day, doing all the things that seemed more important than my relationship with Him.
Jesus was my Lazarus.
There are times when I am exactly like the rich man. Precious sisters, I would venture to say that there are times when we are all like the rich man. We give Jesus the scraps of our hearts, afraid of what would happen if we gave Him our whole self in all our brokenness.
We know that Jesus suffered, and died, and rose again to save us, yet still we question His great love for us. Sisters, still we question whether He can heal us, restore us, hold us when we are hurting, and find us when we are lost.
"If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31).
Let us allow the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us and strengthen us in faith to proclaim that yes, Jesus loves us and our intimacy with Him will be the center of everything we do, for nothing is insignificant in the kingdom of God.
This hymn composed by Saint Thomas Aquinas is often sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us thank God for opening Heaven's gates as the lyrics proclaim!
Leana Bowler lives in Arizona with her husband, five children, feisty grandma, and three dogs. She love Jesus, writing jokes, books, strong coffee, and drawing upgraded stick figure people. You can find out more about her here.
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