Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“There was a rich man… and a poor man named Lazarus.”

Today’s parable reminds us that a life of luxury and selfishness, marked by a lack of sympathy for the poor, prevents us from becoming capable of life in Paradise. To be able to live there, we need to have learnt to live by love before we leave space-time.
Selfishness stems from a conscious preference for our needs over those of others. In early childhood, egocentrism is natural. Educating  children  to realise that others might have different viewpoints or emotions – and needs - from their own is vital for their development into fine human beings.

Parents – and indeed all family members as well as schools -  do well to teach young people altruism: The principle or practice of concern for the well-being of others, acting for the benefit of others without expecting anything in return.

If they learn selflessness: being concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own, they will make a good spouse in their marriage.

We read in Mt 25,40 how Christ said, “What you do to the least of mine, you do unto me.” This sentence has shaped my morality.

God loves us but, if we do not respond to this love by doing our best to replicate it – express it – in our lives, it will not save us.

We are responsible – able to respond – for our salvation and can, if we choose – to become capax Dei, capable of life with God in eternity.

I live with God – with Yesh – throughout every day of my life these past six years or so.

At death, life is not ended, just changed. Life with – and for God now – enables us to live with God once, at our death, we are born into eternity.

So, let’s keep on keeping on with our quest to learn to live to love on our own Journey to Eternity. 

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