He Loved Us First

"Happy are they who hope in the Lord."
Jer 17:5-10
Lk 8:15
Lk 16:19-31

"More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy ; who can understand it?" . . . . "I, the Lord, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds." We cannot fully understand the territory of the heart, but the Lord understands it and he responds properly to what he finds.
We get a challenging instruction on the ways of the human heart from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It is not difficult to imagine the scene because the contrast between the rich and the poor is before us always ---- unless our eyes are closed. It is not a sin to be materially rich, nor does being materially poor guarantee salvation. It does not describe what was going on in the heart of Lazarus while he endured his degrading sufferings. We can conclude that he must have overcome the heart's natural temptation to grow bitter about the injustices committed against him because, after a lifetime of torment, he found consolation. He entered eternal life, symbolized by his resting in the bosom of Abraham ---- a very tender way of describing heaven.
We know more about the rich man. In this life he was entirely, grossly self-absorbed. Lazarus was right at his gate, in a condition of extreme need, and the rich man did not even notice him. While the rich man may have done many good things in his life, he did not do so the will of God in regard to his closest neighbor, Lazarus. He did not love his neighbor. God was not cruelly punishing the rich man. The man dried up his own soul by refusing to love. The rich man failed to learn the most fundamental purpose of life in this world : the universal call to love God and love our neighbor.
Reflecting on the current global financial crisis, we can see it differently in light of this parable. People are worried about what they will have to suffer in this life because their money is gone. The parable reminds us that having money is not the essential thing. Would the rich man in the parable not have been better off if he had been humbled? God in his mercy is humbling the world., so that we will open our eyes to the needs of one another and our hearts to love. God does not want anyone to end up in torment ; he wants everyone to "rest in the bosom of Abraham." When we die, we will undergo a "financial crisis." We will lose our money. The parable helps us to evaluate our life in this world in light of life in the next.
Since "the human heart is more tortuous than all else," in this Lent we continue to present our own tortuous human hearts to the Lord, so that he can show us our need for repentance and our call to enter ever more deeply in to the way of love , forgiving ---- forgiven where the first cut is the deepest.♥
May Mary, Our Loving Mother of God, will hold me in her heart as the Lord enlightens me and I face the poverty of my love.♥