BEAR FRUIT AND INHERIT LIFE
If we keep our eyes
open to the needs of others and listen attentively to the Word of God, we will
be the tree planted near running water. We will yield good fruit, fruit that
will endure unto everlasting life.
Jeremiah disturbs
us in the reading today with his poetic images contrasting the person who
"trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh" (Jer. 17:5)
with the one who trusts in the Lord. The one who trusts anywhere else but in
God is "like a barren bush in the desert" standing "in a lava
waste, a salt and empty earth" (17:6, 7). This is the person who looks for
comfort and security in the sources recommended by the prevailing culture,
sources such as riches and health. But that is not always the way it works.
Throughout our lives, in this world, there is not always lasting happiness: the
economic collapse, sickness, accidents, and so on.
In the parable of
today's Gospel, Jesus does not condemn wealth as such, but points out the
consequences of the abuse of money and what it can do to us. The rich man
dressed in finery and pampering his appetite for exquisite food and drink was
so taken up with his own pleasures that he failed to pay any attention to poor
Lazarus starving at his gate. Lazarus was so sick and hungry that he would have
considered the scraps from the rich man's table a banquet. But not even the
scraps were offered to him. The rich man had allowed his wealthy circumstances
to blind him to the needs of others who lived around him.
Wealth is enticing
because of the pleasures it can bring. But the person who lives for pleasure
alone will wither and dry up just as we read about today in Jeremiah. Our
responsorial psalm gives us some direction in all this: "Blessed are they
who hope in the Lord" (Ps.40:5a). If we keep our eyes open to the needs of
others and listen attentively to the Word of God, we will be the tree planted
near running water. We will yield good fruit, fruit that will endure unto
everlasting life.
What brings us
freedom and joy?