Second Sunday of Advent

As we celebrate our second Sunday in Advent, I am beginning to see, and sense, many of the old familiar signs that come with the season. The homes and Churchs are in preparation for the coming season with decorations, there is a feeling of expectation in the air, and I see people beginning to feel a bit more warmth toward others. There is even the familiar scents in the air of crisp cold winds mixed with pine, and sometimes a hint of the spices from pumpkin pies and mulled ciders. All these wonderful things come to us with the season’s beginnings. It’s a beautiful time of year.

Then of course, there is John the Baptist in today’s Gospel, who is also a familiar voice at this time of year. We hear his call to repentance, and in particular his focused commentary toward the Pharisees who he refers to as a brood of vipers. Not exactly the message you’re going to find on too many greeting cards. The thing is, while it may not give us the warm fuzzy feelings that the other sensory stuff I mentioned earlier does, it is still far more vital to our being able to celebrate the season with any sort of grasp on what we are actually celebrating.

We are called now, to prepare the way of the Lord, whose birth into this world in human form we will celebrate during the Christmas season. This requires effort on our part, and it is not always comfortable effort. In our first reading Isaiah speaks of the profound change of behavior of many of God’s creations on that day when the shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse. He speaks of the He whom the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon, and of the truly just judgement he will bring. He speaks of how the wolf will be the guest of the lamb, and of how the leopard will lie down with the kid. He illustrates for us all via the description of the unlikely camaraderie that will be possible on that day because of the fundamental change of heart that will accompany those who are God’s creations and who seek Christ. This is the call then for each of us, to break past our comfort zone, to do away with our preconceived notions about others, to embrace those who we have normally avoided and show caring and compassion to all, not just those with whom we are comfortable. This is not something we can achieve on our own. We need to pray to God for the grace to accomplish this. We need to be strengthened to take on a task that heretofore has been too difficult for us to achieve. This is the change of heart, that is called for in this season of Advent. To prepare the way of the Lord by a radical change in our thinking and in our behaviors. To pursue salvation by acknowledging our shortcomings and prayerfully pursuing change that will allow us to truly prepare, and then celebrate with meaning the birth of our Lord at Christmas. We cannot do one without the other. We cannot truly celebrate our Lords birth without having also put in the effort.

If we are to heed John’s call as the forerunner of the Lord, we must welcome one another in the way that Saint Paul speaks of in our second reading “Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God”. We need to truly die to self, and in turn welcome and embrace those with whom we have had our differences, those who have been estranged from us during the year(s), to reach out to all who we have formerly ignored or avoided. We need to let all God’s creations know the true meaning of celebrating the birth of His Son at Christmas, by being welcoming to all those created in His image. This is Christmas, this is the essence that the core of our beings, our souls, actually seek whether we consciously realize it or not. I promise you that all the lights, tree’s, presents, and sensory experiences we have created over the years in the name of Christmas will pale in comparison with the true fulfillment of our having prepared ourselves for the birth of Christ in this way that emulates what he was to do for each of us.

First Sunday of Advent

As we celebrate this first Sunday of Advent, I think that it is worth addressing just how different we are as believers in Christ, in terms of how we view both Advent, and the Christmas season. First, we actually acknowledge Advent as a season, and as a time of preparation for the birth of our Lord at Christmas. Secondly, we do not simply celebrate Christmas day, we celebrate a season. The Christmas season begins at the vigil Mass on Christmas eve and does not end until we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 8^th of this coming year. It is not all confined into a single day preceded by absolute madness in the shopping centers. We have time both at Advent, and during Christmas to prepare ourselves to celebrate thoughtfully and properly these beautiful seasons.

The question then that should spring to mind for each of us, is how should we actually go about celebrating this Advent season to prepare for Christs birth at Christmas. It certainly does not involve a melee of shopping that the secular viewpoint of Christmas has descended into, nor does it necessarily involve rushing about to prepare food, our houses, or even a tree. All of those are simply “nice to have” additions that help us express the specialness of the season, but they are not the focus or the priority. We are actually called to do the exact opposite of what many have turned Christmas into in terms of preparation. We are called to slow down, to spend our time in thought and prayer, to breath and uncloud our minds of the usual clutter of more secular priorities, to spend time with one another and with our Lord to discern His will for each of us at this time of year. If we listen for that quiet voice that He speaks to us with deep within ourselves, we will perhaps hear a call to change.

In our Gospel today we cautioned to be vigilant for the coming of our Lord, and to not be caught unaware. The point is illustrated in how many of the people of Noah’s time were completely caught up in daily routine right up until the day of the flood so that they were unprepared. We hear of how in days to come there will be some who will be taken to be with our Lord, and there will be others who are left behind, and that we absolutely do not know the day or the hour when this will happen, only that it will. The message is clear, we must prepare ourselves and be ready.

In our second reading Saint Paul tells us of how we are to awaken from our current state, and put on an armor of light, an armor that will set us apart from those who are merely concerned with the desires of the flesh and with worldly concerns. I find it interesting that he describes it as armor of light, because by definition then there is illumination that comes with that. We will stand out, we will be seen brightly by all, and as part of this the call to come back to our old state will be made by those who are uncomfortable with the light. We need to instead focus all the more urgently on our Lord. To prepare ourselves in time spent in prayer, contemplating the birth of our Lord that is to come. To reflect on his message of loving those around us, and in turn showing love for Him since we have all been created in His image, to show generosity toward others – especially those less fortunate than ourselves, to notice those who are perhaps alone or just lonely at this time of year. I think in particular we need to notice and embrace those who are lonely because there can be so much of it at a time when we are all reminded of Advent and Christmas seasons past, and perhaps those who are no longer with us physically – this can be very difficult for those left behind. Our Lord knew loneliness on His cross, and bore it for us, and asks us to be compassionate to His children.

My wish for each of us at this time of year is that we reflect on these things and take to heart the call to slow down a bit and immerse ourselves more deeply in Christs message of love and compassion toward all, of fidelity to His teachings, and of His sacrifice that He was born into this world to make for us. God Bless each one of you, as you prepare for His coming.

Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

The end is near! I remember the first time I saw someone with a sign that said this, as they were parading up and down the street near my office and telling every passerby who would listen that all the signs pointed to the end coming very soon. That was about thirty years ago. While I do agree with them, that the end will one day come, it is absolutely not for us to know, or really even to speculate when that might be. It will come in Gods own time, and as part of His ultimate plan for salvation.

In our Gospel reading today, our Lord startles his disciples a bit by telling them about the destruction of the temple that is to come, and how their will not be one stone left upon another. For them, this sounded very much like the end of things, and they responded immediately wanting to know when this would happen and what signs to look for to foretell its coming. On the whole this is a pretty understandable reaction, given the significance of the temple to the Jewish people. It was a place of worship, but it was also far more than that, it was a place of identity for a people who were living under the occupation of the Roman empire, and who were very much afraid of losing their identity as a people and a nation. The temple represented to them a powerful physical manifestation of who they thought they were as a people. The thing is, whether for the Jewish people of that time, or all of us now, our identity as a people, and as believers in God, is not predicated on any physical construct or manifestation. We place far too much significance on things like this, because as human beings, we seem to crave comfort from the imagined permanence of such things. Whether they are a temple or church building, a city designated as the capital of a nation, or even our own bodies as the personal structure that we hold dear. Yet none of these is really representative of who and what we are. We are Gods people, and our focus needs to be on Him alone, and on maintaining ourselves in such a way as to be more concerned with His plan, and for salvation than anything else in our lives. Temples whether made of stone, or wood, or flesh will come and go, the only permanence is achieved in belief, love, and faith in our Lord.

In our second reading today, Saint Paul tells us of something else that we need to be cautious of, and that can be a byproduct of focusing too much on things beyond our control. That is the tendency to begin too much analysis of others and feeling as though we need to point out to them all that they are doing wrong, sometimes in a rather public way. He speaks of those whom he labels as busy bodies. I can’t even imagine what he would think if he had a chance to experience social media today. It sometimes seems to be the ultimate platform for busy bodies, and those who would rather spend their time critiquing the actions of others rather than focusing on their own conduct. It’s easy to fall into this kind of behavior, it requires less effort overall because it does not necessitate change within ourselves, only the verbalizing or typing of our analysis of the actions of another. This is something that can be incredibly toxic and is vastly different than sharing with someone privately a concern we have for them as our brother or sister in Christ because we seek to see them on the path to salvation. It is true we are called to hold one another accountable, and if we do not do so, we are not caring for others as we should, but this must be done with discretion and empathy toward the other person. What we should seek to achieve is loving correction, and it is what we should be open to ourselves as humble followers of Christ.

We are all seeking out a road to salvation, and our journey is long and filled with ups and downs, but it should not be a lonely one. We have our Lord who is with us every step of the way, and we should have one another if we stay constructively focused on the present and strive together to assemble our own temple structure built of the loving bonds between those of us who as living stones comprise the body of Christ.

Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel reading today, we hear the question that the Sadducees posed to Jesus about what the fate of the woman married to seven different brothers would be when they all saw one another again in the afterlife. The question is more of an ironic joke than an actual question, since the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife to begin with. They asked this question for the purpose of trying to test and to trap our Lord in his reply. Yet this whole trite effort at entrapment backfired rather spectacularly as our Lord took the opportunity to educate them on just how little they really understood of the nature of heaven, and of those who are its inhabitants.

The question today though, is how much do we really understand about the nature of not only heaven and those who inhabit it, but also of the nature of our relationship that God has with those who are there. We are prone to thinking of them simply as those who have died and are now in heaven with our Lord. Yet, our God is the God of the living, and He sees those with him in heaven as indeed still being very much alive. In the law of Moses our Lord states that he IS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – not that He was their God – He sees them as being very much alive with Him. This is no different than what He sees for us when we join Him in heaven, we are very much alive. We are still very much part of the body of Christ.

I think that when it comes to heaven, we all have our own vision of what it will be like. Perhaps we think of choirs of angels, or continual harp music (not sure how I feel about that one, I hope they allow guitars as well), or perhaps we see a place where we are surrounded by all our loved ones who have gone before us, or even a continual party of ceaseless rejoicing and merriment. All of these things are nice attempts at defining heaven, but I suspect they all fall tragically short. The one thing that seems to be well defined, is that we will be with God, and with Him in such a way as we have never experienced before. We will share an intimacy with Him that is unparalleled with anything that can be achieved here on earth. To know God in this way, means to know all of Him, and in turn to know all that He created on a level we cannot even conceive of now – to literally be so close to Him who created all that there is nothing that will not be revealed to us. What is more, we will experience love that is so pure and undiluted in nature that there will be nothing within us unfulfilled. For the first time, we will know true and complete contentment and fulfillment. I think that perhaps Saint Paul expressed it best when he said “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has ready for those who love Him”.

The thing that we can take great comfort in right now, is that the same God who came to us as man, and who was willing to die for each one of us, has also promised us that when we live for Him, we will indeed live forever with Him in heaven. He does not ever lie, He is the God of truth, and has proven His word by His actions. There is literally no one else that we have more reason to accept as both reality, and as authentic in all that He said and did than our God. We may find it hard to wrap our heads around the concept of such a pure and powerful being. This is not surprising given how little we know, and how much we still seek to learn about the fabric of the universe that He created, because if the creation itself is that hard to fathom, how much more so the Creator. Our Lord has a plan for each one of us to learn, and to grow in intimacy with HIm, we simply need to allow His plan to work within us, in the appointed manner and time that He has defined. If we can trust in the things that He has provided to keep our fragile forms alive each day, we can certainly trust in His plan for those He loves so deeply.

Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord loves all things and all peoples that His hand created. This does not change, either in time or circumstance. As our first reading points out to us, God would not have created anything, or anyone that He did not care for. His will is for all to come to Him, and to know him, no matter who they are, or what they have done in the past, He will welcome them with open arms when they turn to Him with all their heart.

In our Gospel today, we hear the account of Zacchaeus who was the chief tax collector, and so a man of both position and wealth in that day and age. The thing is, the wealth came to him by what were likely somewhat less than honorable means. In those days, someone who collected taxes would also likely add a bit more to the bill to provide themselves with a bit more compensation than just their salaries. The practice was very common and pretty much everyone knew that it was taking place, and it certainly did nothing to further endear the tax collectors to the populace. It was bad enough that the tax collectors were viewed as collaborators with the Roman occupying force, against God’s own people. Yet even for someone involved in all this, there was still hope.

Zacchaeus knew well his guilt and did not try to hide what he had done when he encountered Jesus. There were no excuses, no attempts at justification, just a simple repentant statement that outlined what he planned to do to try to make amends for his actions. This is what our Lord is looking for from all of us. We are all His children, so we are already greatly valued by Him, yet there are times when we fall short in our thoughts, conduct, and inclinations of the heart. When this happens, our Lord who knows all, is simply looking for us to follow the same example. No excuses, no blathering on with attempts at justifying our actions, put away all pretense and instead cloth ourselves with humility. We need to seek to look beyond any crowd or obstacle that that obscures our view of the living Christ. If necessary, climb the Sycamore, do whatever it takes to be able to clearly focus on our Lord. He in turn will certainly notice us and ask us to come to Him and invite Him into our homes and our lives. Salvation can then come to our house as well, because like Zacchaeus, we too are descendants of Abraham whom our Lord seeks in order to save what was lost.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel today presents us with an interesting challenge, if we complete reading it without feeling a bit self-conscious, we probably need to read it again and spend more time contemplating it. It’s really easy to simply look at the contrast between the Pharisee and the Tax Collector and walk away thinking that the Pharisee is a bit full of himself and then perhaps empathize solely with the Tax Collector. There isn’t much doubt that the Pharisee made a mistake in the way he thought of himself as being superior to the Tax Collector and even stated so in his prayer. Where he messed up was in contrasting himself with another human being, rather than humbly contrasting himself with God’s example and acknowledging how much room he had for self-improvement. The truth is, if we look at the Pharisee in the same way and compare ourselves with him, we have then fallen into the same trap.

There is literally no one that we are called to ever compare ourselves with as Christians and seek to emulate other than our Lord Jesus Christ – period. There is no other example so perfect. Nor is there anyone that we are ever called to judge by comparing their conduct with our own. This is the reason that our Lord was so adamant, and stated so often, that we were never to judge others, and that we were to conduct ourselves always with humility. He alone is the just judge, and we are the ones that need to always alert to the fact that we will one day be judged by Him.

The first reading today from Sirach paints the picture rather clearly with his opening statement – “The Lord is a God of justice who knows no favorites”. In short, the playing field is completely level in Gods eyes. No matter what our circumstance, His call to each of us is simply to obey His word, and to look to Him always for help. He will hear our cries for help and will never ignore them. He will also hear the cries of all of our brothers and sisters and will know how they are being treated. If we ignore them when they are in need, do we really think that our Lord will not be aware of this? If we oppress them, do we really think that our Lord will not see our actions? He is the God of justice, and knows their hearts and our hearts, He knows our capabilities, He knows our faults. There is absolutely nothing hidden from Him ever, and all these things will be weighed when He judges each of us.

If all this sounds a bit dire, the good news is that our Lord is also merciful. He sees not just our faults, but also our efforts, imperfect though they may be. As our Father, he loves our efforts, rather than focusing solely on our faults. He sees where we need help, and He anticipates our needs. When we ask for help, He is compassionate and generous in what He gives us. He seeks for us to understand that the love and mercy He shows us is the mercy we are called to show others, and the love that we are called to embrace them with.

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is a powerful exhortation in today’s readings to be persistent in our faith, our efforts, and our prayers. I think we sometimes are too easily discouraged when we don’t receive an immediate response from our Lord to what we ask of Him. Our Lord hears us, he never ignores us, but the timing of His response, and the content of His response are up to His plan alone. Yet we are called to be persistent in prayer and humbly asking Him for help, nonetheless, and this is especially so when we feel tired or discouraged in our prayer life.

In our second reading today, Saint Paul offers a powerful solution to the spiritual tiredness or fatigue that can sometimes impede our prayer lives – it is the reading of Sacred Scripture. As he tells us, the word of God contained in scripture has a powerful effect on both the endurance and efficacy of our prayer lives, as well as supporting our skills in teaching and correcting others. If we come to know God’s words intimately, we come closer in intimacy to Him. This is crucial both to each one of us personally, but also to those around us who may be influenced by us. Who of us can continue to act against God’s teachings when we truly spend time reading and pondering His word, and letting ourselves be infused with His message, or are privy to others examples of His words in their actions? If we are really immersing ourselves in this way, I don’t think that is possible. Not to say that we cannot stumble occasionally, but overall, it changes us and draws us closer to Him at all levels.

In our Gospel today, we hear the parable of the widow who must overcome the unjust judge. She does this through sheer perseverance, and unwavering resolve to obtain a just decision. The judge for his part, is both worn down by this, but is also frankly wary of the power that this poor woman wields through her continuous search for justice. We can learn a lot from this, it can be difficult to continue to pursue our call to be God’s people who demonstrate to others His commands when we become tired ourselves, and perhaps lose our zeal for showing His word to others through our actions. This is when we can look to her example and realize that it is exactly at times like these when we need to focus even more on staying the course. If others, like the widow, can do this, so can we. We simply need to use a mixture of both resolve, which we can obtain as a grace through prayer, and taking steps to re-strengthen and refresh ourselves through reading the inspired word of God in Sacred Scripture and allow it to recharge and perhaps show us new ways of dealing with a given situation. God’s word is complete in addressing what we may encounter in this life if we extrapolate from the content, and as we get to know it better, we will find that there is no shortage of examples and solutions that are present in scripture. When He ascended back to heaven, Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them alone, and so He sent the Holy Spirit upon them, and through their inspired writings of the events of Jesus time here on earth we have the gift of very direct knowledge of Him. This is in the same tradition as the writings of the prophets who came to God’s people to deliver His message and to guide them, and it is has been powerful through the ages, just as it is now if we allow it to wash over us. With this powerful gift, we can be confident in our struggles and in our personal vocation to be God’s people who draw others to Him by how we live, how we speak of Him, and how we share His love.

Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our readings today, we hear of healing on a physical level, that of leprosy, but more importantly on a spiritual level that came as a greater gift to those who had only sought to have their body healed. They came in search of healing only of the physical ailment, without considering that they needed their whole selves to be healed, and our Lord in His mercy granted them the healing of both their bodies and their souls.

In our first reading from the Second book of Kings, we hear of Naaman, who had been instructed by Elisha to wash himself seven times in the Jordan, and who was then healed of his leprosy. The cleansing that took place “left his flesh like that of a little child”, and perhaps had that same effect on his soul, because his eyes were opened to the only true God, and he accepted who He is with the willingness and openness of a child. He made the realization that the God of Israel was the only one deserving of worship, and so while he could leave no gift with the prophet Elisha, he instead left with several mule loads of the earth from Israel, so that he could use it to build a place of worship to God. He knew who to truly give thanks to for his healing.

In our Gospel reading, we hear of another healing that took place. There were actually ten men who were healed of their leprosy, and yet one in particular stood out among them. He was a Samaritan, not even what then would have been considered a true follower of God by the Israelites he was surrounded by. He stood out though, as the only one who recognized the gift he had been granted and displayed the gratitude toward God that was appropriate. He came in search of Him who healed him and fell at His feet. The infirmity of leprosy was gone, and his understanding and belief were likewise cleansed so that he clearly saw who Jesus was.

When we likewise ask God for healing, we can have faith that our Lord will hear our prayer and will heal within us that which is most in need according to His plan for us. We don’t always understand all that is in play when it comes to that plan, we don’t know what greater purpose God has in store for us. We can have faith that He knows our desires, but we must understand that He also knows what is truly needed, even if those are two different things. It is hard to accept this at times, especially when we are afraid and uncertain of what will happen to us. Yet there is reason for the greatest hope, as beings of both body and spirit, we have a duality of nature that is completely part of us, and that interacts to produce our whole selves. Our overall wellbeing requires that the healing which God provides comes to whichever part of our essence our Lord sees as needing it, and it in turn affects us as a whole. We can rejoice that we have a loving Father who knows of the needs of both these natures and will always look out for our complete good. We can trust in this, we need to trust in this, because it is only through this trust that we can know the peace that comes from God. This is the cure that will see us through, no matter what the infirmity, no matter how long a healing might take, and will ultimately result in our being drawn closer to both our God, and our heavenly home.

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

We hear about it virtually every day, sometimes there are actual acts of violence that pervade our news, sometimes it is simply stories that show either a general apathy that people display toward one another, sort of a casual indifference that still causes others considerable pain. Sometimes we simply hear about the plight of those who perhaps live in conditions that we would consider intolerable, and we ask ourselves how can our Lord allow all this to happen? We reach out to God and ask these questions, and sometimes point an accusing finger in His direction. The thing is, when do we get around to asking the more salient question – how can we allow this to happen?

Our Lord gave us what is perhaps the greatest gift that a creator could give to the created – a freedom of will that is unencumbered by any influence or coercion. We are trusted with a great deal of responsibility not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. I sometimes wonder if perhaps we have been given too much credit for our ability to exercise such tremendous responsibility. Yet I also know that with such granted freedom, comes the potential to grow into beings who are more worthy of being entrusted with so much.

In many respects right now, I believe it would be accurate to refer to us as unprofitable servants, because very often we are inclined to do only the minimum that is required of us to pursue our Lord’s teachings. We do what we are obliged to do through what we read in scripture, and in following Gods commandments. The thing is, where does this really leave us in terms of the fulfilling to our greatest potential the responsibility that we were each entrusted with when we were created in Gods image? Not very far along I suspect. Our Creator, like any good parent, knows our potential better than we know it ourselves, and if we really ponder it, it is painful to think about what He must feel when He sees us neglect one another, being subtly cruel to one another, and apathetic in our love for one another. We don’t necessarily break a commandment, but we certainly don’t fulfill our potential to be part of Gods salvific plan, or even His plan to allow for each of us to be provided for on the most basic levels to sustain our existence here on earth.

How can we sometimes ask for faith because we want to understand and bond to the things of Heaven, when we cannot even exercise the gifts, we have already been given? It’s like a small child asking for increased responsibility and freedom, when they cannot fulfill the most basic chores that their parents ask of them. Yet our Lord is unfathomably generous to us even here, when we ask with our hearts aligned to truly try to understand more of Gods ways, and even though we have so many failures in our past, our Lord looks beyond these with affection and optimism and allows us to try to strive for even greater things than we are likely capable of comprehending. Why? Again, I suspect that it has to do with potential that He sees in us. The potential to grow into people who can care for one another, not out of compulsion because of what we are commanded to do, but because our hearts guide us, and we actually desire to see others better off. If we can accomplish that we have succeeded in placing ourselves behind the needs of those around us. We have been able to love at the level of Agape – the same selfless love that Jesus Christ showed toward us. We then stop crying out about the injustices and poverties we see, and we instead silently resolve to put our energies and love toward changing things. Our faith, though perhaps small like that mustard seed, is there nonetheless to allow us to simply trust in His plan and be a part of it out of desire.

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead”. These words from our Gospel reading, are a strong foretelling of the problems that we continue to face with rebelling against our Lords commands. We remain a rather stiff-necked people who would often rather do things our own way, than adhere to God’s teachings, even when they come from His Son who rose from the dead.

Our Lord continually has warned us of the dangers of pursuing our own pleasures to the exclusion of noticing or caring for the needs of others. In our first reading today from the book of Amos, there is a strong rebuke against those who spend their lives accumulating and enjoying their own comforts and leave nothing for those in need. They lie upon beds of ivory and soft couches and eat and drink with no concern for those who are without shelter and are hungry. They do not care that their brothers and sisters are going without due to their own excesses, and the Lord sees this and makes them the first to suffer exile, and all their comforts, even their basic needs, are done away with, just like those they did not care for.

In our Gospel today, the account of the neglect on the part of the rich man toward Lazarus echoes the same plight, there is more than enough of the things needed for life, and yet the rich man is uncaring, and does not share these things with Lazarus. It does not say that he specifically seeks to keep Lazarus from having these things, only that he does not care enough to address his needs, even though he is right there on his doorstep. His sin is one of omission and inaction and it leads to his condemnation and eternal existence separated from God and His children – hell. He cannot be comforted by any who are with God because they are separated by the choices they made, both in life and in the afterlife. The rich man’s final request, that someone return from the dead to warn his brothers and convince them to listen, takes us back to our original statement – if they will not heed the words of God through His prophets and His word in the bible, neither will they listen to one who has risen from the dead. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and yet even with that, there are many who will choose to ignore Him.

We as Gods people are called to pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, gentleness, and generosity. We are called to be aware not just of our own needs, but of those around us. This call is what defines our belief in Jesus Christ, and our faith in Gods words and commands. It means that our lives by definition are not just our own but are to be filled with caring for those around us who are all created in His image. Those who are lonely, who need any of the material necessities, those who cannot help themselves due to any number of reasons, are the ones we are called to look intently upon and see the face of our Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of them. No one sets out to be homeless, or impoverished, or in need, and yet so many find themselves in this situation. It can happen to anyone, those to whom it does happen are no less human beings with the same right to dignity as any of the rest of us. They have the same goals, the same hopes, the same desires, and they hurt the same way we would hurt if we were in that situation. If we see a need, we are called to not conveniently look the other way, but to try to help in any way we can. This is Gods call and challenge to each of us, it is why He sent His Son to us in human form, and it is why Jesus spent so much of His time with the poor and the neglected. If we truly follow him, not just claiming to be followers, then we too are called to draw near to those in need, and never, never ignore them for our convenience.