Deacon Larry

  March 8, 2007

Thursday of Second Week of Lent

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31

Dc. Larry Brockman

Relentless.  All during Lent, the Lord’s message is relentless.  Like this morning- Jeremiah tells us:  “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh”.  But then on the other hand:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord”. 

Now from our youth we are taught to be strong, to be independent, to learn how to live in the world and be successful.  We are encouraged to compete and to savor our success.  After all, we earned it.  Perhaps that’s what the rich man in the Gospel was doing.  He was just enjoying his success.  He was certainly preoccupied with self and success.  And the Gospel doesn’t say anything that would lead us to believe that the rich man even acknowledged Lazarus.  The rich man effectively built a wall between himself and Lazarus. 

All of us need to be productive in our lives, and there is nothing wrong with that.  There is nothing wrong with competing and being successful. That’s not Jesus point in the parable.  But, life does not end with success and comfort in this world.  We are challenged to grow constantly, even after we have achieved success and not to build walls between ourselves and the problems in the world. 

What success does is give you the capacity to move on to something even more important.  Because when you are successful, then God has given you time and resources to devote to something else besides making a living like raising the kids, volunteering to help others, or whatever.  It doesn’t matter whether you are in the prime of life or retired. 

Lent is a time for all of us to look for the balance in life between living in the world with some degree of comfort and trusting in the Lord when he nudges you to grow- even if it may be a little uncomfortable.   

Are you building a wall that isolates you from the rest of the world?  If you are, remember what happened to the rich man in today’s Gospel.