You’ll see lots of similarities between today’s first reading from Jeremiah 17 and our Responsorial Psalm from Psalm 1. In fact, they look nearly identical. Needless to say, both contain a great message.
Today’s Gospel reading is the story of Lazarus and the rich man, from Luke 16. A rich man ignores poor Lazarus his whole life. In the afterlife, Lazarus is comforted while the rich man is tormented. The rich man asks if he can return to warn his brothers of their impending fate. But Abraham says, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”
Sometimes we desire God to do something big, something grand, something out of this world to get our attention. Most often, that’s not how God operates. But he does send people to bring us his message. For the children of Israel, it was Moses and the prophets. For us, it is the Church. The interesting twist for us is that someone HAS risen from the dead. So instead of waiting for some grand gesture from God before you listen, better listen now. (Note: the grand gesture has already come!)
Father, may we heed the message of Holy Mother Church and put our trust fully in Christ Jesus the Lord, in whose mighty name we pray. Amen.
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