Reflection on the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
September 29, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 16:19-31<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once again, we listen to one of Jesus\u2019s most remarkable stories. There\nis a rich man, and this guy is insanely wealthy. He is described as someone\nclothed with purple and fine linen. In ancient time, fine purple linen is an\nutmost luxury, and usually only nobilities could afford to buy this kind of\ncloth. Before the coming of synthetic coloring, purple dye is coming from\nsnails of Mediterranean Sea, and it takes thousands of snails just to dye one\nordinary garment. This rich guy is also throwing party every night. At the time\nof Jesus, where majority must toil to earn a little and to have something to\neat, to enjoy feast every night is madly extravagant. At that time, fork,\nknife, and napkins were not common; thus, people are eating with their hands.\nIn very wealthy houses, they will cleanse their hands by wiping them on hunks\nof bread that will be thrown away. These are pieces of bread Lazarus longs to\nreceive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lazarus is a Latinized form of Eleazar, meaning \u201cGod is my help.\u201d Yet,\nit seems that he does not get much help from the Lord during his lifetime. He\nis a beggar, and as one living with terrible hygiene, skin diseases come and\nplague his body. Even the dogs are licking his wounds. He is now no different\nfrom a dog! However, God is just and gives His help to Lazarus in his death. He\nis brought by the angels to Abraham\u2019s bosom to receive comfort, while the\nsuperrich guy is thrown to hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a powerful story that reminds us that apathy can send us to\nhell. The rich guy possesses tremendous amount of wealth, and yet he closes his\neyes on his brother who is greatly in distress. A deeper root of apathy is just\nour selfishness. We only care about ourselves. We notice how the rich guy in\nhell asks Lazarus to quench his thirst, his immediate need. Then, the rich guy\nsuddenly remembers that he has other brothers and he wants Lazarus to warn\nthem. It might be a hint of empathy, but it can be the sign of deeper\nselfishness. He wants only those close to him are saved. He never utters any\nsingle word of sorry to Lazarus, for being too cruel. Fr. Richard Rohr, a\nFranciscan spiritual writer, once says, \u201cThe ego hates losing \u2013 even to God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God hates apathy because apathy is directly opposed to His mercy. The\nword Mercy in Latin is Misericordia, and it means the heart of those who are\nsuffering. In the Bible, if there is one thing that always moves God, it is\nwhen someone begs for mercy. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that God is mercy,\nand He cannot be but merciful. Thus, apathy is simply against God; it is a\nrejection of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surely, we do not have to solve all the problem of the world; neither do\nwe have to become the wealthiest guy in the world to care for others. We just\nneed to look outside ourselves, outside our gadgets, outside our social media,\noutside places and people that give us comfort. Perhaps, our kids need someone\nto talk with, someone who can listen without judging. Maybe, the person beside\nus is having a bad day, and our little smile may help significantly. After all,\nMother Teresa of Calcutta once said, \u201cWe shall never know all the good that a\nsimple smile can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us make our mission today to say a kind word and do a kind deed to\nsomeone who needs it. As Mother Teresa once again says, \u201cKind words can be\nshort and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reflection on the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
\nSeptember 29, 2019
\nLuke 16:19-31<\/p>\n
Once again, we listen to one of Jesus\u2019s most remarkable stories. There is a rich man, and this guy is insanely wealthy. He is described as someone clothed with purple and fine linen. In ancient time, fine purple linen is an utmost luxury, and usually only nobilities could afford to buy this kind of cloth. Before the coming of synthetic coloring, purple dye is coming from snails of Mediterranean Sea, and it takes thousands of snails just to dye one ordinary garment. This rich guy is also throwing party every night. At the time of Jesus, where majority must toil to earn a little and to have something to eat, to enjoy feast every night is madly extravagant. At that time, fork, knife, and napkins were not common; thus, people are eating with their hands. In very wealthy houses, they will cleanse their hands by wiping them on hunks of bread that will be thrown away. These are pieces of bread Lazarus longs to receive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-8852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8853,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8852\/revisions\/8853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}