By Beth DeCristofaro
Thus
says the LORD: Cursed is the man who
trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away
from the LORD. He is like a barren bush
in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a
salt and empty earth. Blessed is the man
who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He is like a tree planted
beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its
leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears
fruit. (Jeremiah 17:5-8)
He
said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five
brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of
torment.’ … Then Abraham said, ‘If they
will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if
someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16: 27-28,
31)
Piety
O Lord, Help me
that I, with your Church, not neglect the service of charity any more than I
neglect the sacraments and the Word. (From Pope Benedict as quoted in “Lent
2015: A Scriptural Way of the Cross”)[i]
Study
The incredibly
vivid images of a barren bush in a lava waste adds a new perspective to the
person of the rich man, covetously arrayed in purple and gold. His culture would have seen him as
successful, powerful. God sees him as
desolate, spiritually infertile and, in fact, destructive of life as a lava
flow would be in a garden. The Lord did
not have to enact any curse. The rich
man chose his curse when he opted for greed, status and considered himself
superior to Lazarus.
It’s not hard to
find such a lava waste as we read the news.
Individuals who not only refuse table scraps to others but keep them
from prohibitively expensive health care or restrict boundaries because those
people were not born on the correct side of them. Or persons who persecute people with darker
complexions or a different religion, speak another language, smell
differently. During this season of Lent
can we honestly say where we are rooted – on a barren plain or beside living
waters?
Action
Pray the Scriptural
Way of the Cross (link below). Walk with
Christ on his way to the Cross. In what
way am I burdening others with a cross?
In what ways do I relieve others, carrying their cross with them? http://usccb.org/about/justice-peace-and-human-development/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=168807
[i] Scripture
texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition ©
2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.
and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part
of the New American Bible may be
reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Illustrations were created by young artists as part of the Catholic Campaign
for Human Development Multimedia Youth Contest
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