Happy 16th Birthday Catherine Therese!!

Posted by on
Although you'll never read this my sweet Catherine, I love you. 16 years ago you changed our life forever. All of your siblings have done this in their own way but you have done so in a very special way. You have made me more empathetic, compassionate, and much more prayerful. Your smile lights up the world around you and we are all blessed by it.  It's not easy living with a saint. You remind me of my weakness and limited time on this earth. You challenge me to go deeper within myself and find what the Lord is trying to teach me...usually patience. You are made in His image and likeness but He uses you so that I can see my own beauty, goodness, and shortcomings.  You struggle mightily against me with every bath, diaper change, and wardrobe change. I struggle mightily with Him against all the changes He wills in my life. You depend on me and your mom for even the simplest of things. You teach me to depend on Him for everything and not rely on my on strength. You teach me that I
0

Sharing with Lazarus

Posted by on
Luke 16:19-31

Saint John of God

During my commute to work this morning I began planning, in my mind, the family garden. I have plans to make it nearly twice as large as last year. As soon as the weather breaks a little, I'll start planting fence posts. While thinking of our garden I remembered my desire last year to take some of our produce and give it either to the food bank or the local St. Vincent de Paul Society. When I was thinking of this I noticed that my plan was to give either organization anything extra we might have. I then began to consider, prompted by the Holy Spirit no doubt, the possibility of giving away the first fruits of our garden. Why not give them the first 10 or 12 cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers etc., instead of giving them the stuff that we can't eat and are too lazy to preserve?

This driving contemplation fit today's Gospel well I think. Here, again, we find a person, the rich man, is sent to hell not for the things he did but for that which he did not do. This man was not condemned for being rich, dressing in fine clothes, feasting and all the rest. Rather, he was condemned for not sharing what he had been given. Like in Matthew 25:31-46, this appears to be another case of mortal sins of omission. I think the Christ and the Church are giving me opportunities to consider not so much the evil I have done but the good that I am not doing. Both end in the same location!

FROM THE SAINTS - "The rich man was condemned because he did not pay attention to the other man, because he failed to take notice of Lazarus, the person who sat at his door and who longed to eat the scraps from the table. Nowhere does Christ condemn the mere possession of earthly goods as such. Instead, he pronounces very harsh words against those who use their possessions in a selfish way, without paying attention to the needs of others..." - Pope John Paul II in Yankee Stadium, October 2, 1979

Comments

Post a Comment