More thoughts on Gospel 26th Sunday of ordinary time, Year of Luke

Lectio: ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. (Luke 16:20-21)

Meditatio: Why did Lazarus keep waiting by the rich man’s gate when it became apparent that the rich man would never give him anything? Was there some kind of connection between them?

I could draw parallels here with married life. A wife is bound to her husband no matter how unloving he is. Children are bound to their parents in the same way. Am I the rich man, with great potential to love? Are my wife and children sometimes languishing at my gate waiting for a gesture of affection from me? Do the dogs of false consolation and temptation lick their wounds and they lack the strength to fight them off? In my “homeland” where I mint the currency of my love, is there a grave deficit?

Lectio 2: ²⁶ “Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.”

Meditatio 2: I note that the “fixing” of the chasm is in the passive voice – it isn’t explicit as to who has fixed it. I also note that the idea of “wanting” to cross is applied to those on the good side, whereas the simple fact of not being able to cross is applied to those on the bad side. (I realise I’m splitting hairs, perhaps.)

Do we create our own chasm around us? Do we become so impatient and frustrated, especially with our children, that we become fixed in an unapproachable shell? Does it get so bad, that it becomes impossible to say “sorry” or “I love you”? Do we simply give up and refuse to cross the chasm that we create? And those that would want to cross and get in to us – would they be able? or would our self-pity and regret stonewall them?

Oratio: Dear Jesus, please help me to conquer myself, to be patient and to love my family at all times. Please help me to step outside of myself and be the first to build bridges and maintain them while there is still time.