Sunday, September 29, 2019 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Feast of the Archangels First Reading: Am 6:1, 4-7 Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 Second Reading: 1 Tim 6:11-16 Gospel Reading: Lk 16:19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table. Even dogs used to come and lick his sores. It happened that the poor man died and angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. From hell where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest.”He called out: ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus with the tip of his finger dipped in water to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire.'”Abraham replied: ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune. Now he is in comfort and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you or from your side to us.'”The rich man implored once more: ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my father’s house where my five brothers live. Let him warn them so that they may not end up in this place of torment.’ Abraham replied: ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ But the rich man said: ‘No, Father Abraham. But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'”Abraham said: ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the grave.'”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Ours is a God of reversals. Under his administration, the rich becomes poor, and the poor becomes rich. Two factors trigger this reversal, namely, social status and the status of the mind. Social status refers to the level of accumulations of a person in terms of money, power and influence. Status of the mind refers to whether or not the person thinks that the height he has reached sets him aside from the world of mortals and exempts him from everyone’s responsibility to help the poor.
The most controlling of the above described factors is the status of the mind. Thus, even if the person had become rich through honest work he will still suffer the reversal if his mentality is selfish. Status of the mind also determines the standing of the poor before God. Even if one is so poor but his mental state is selfish, he is no worthier of heaven than his rich counterparts. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.