Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.
This Gospel Acclamation is the same as last week's, for the Church wants us to reflect again on the nature of true wealth and on Jesus' great sacrifice for us. This week the acclamation is paired with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
The rich man has everything money can buy, but he lacks quite a few other important things, especially compassion. Perhaps he does not notice Lazarus lying at his gates with the dogs licking his sores. Perhaps he simply does not care. Yet he has more than enough to share, and Lazarus would have been happy with scraps.
The rich man could have given so much more than scraps. He had more than enough to spare. Yet he makes no move. Lazarus dies without any human compassion.
Lazarus is poor, extremely poor. He has nothing at all in this world but the few rags he drapes over his body. He is the image of poverty.
Yet when both Lazarus and the rich man die, we discover the true nature of wealth and poverty. Lazarus becomes rich, happy, and comfortable with Abraham, for he has pleased God by his patience in his suffering. The rich man, however, is now poorer than Lazarus ever was. His material wealth is gone, and he never had any spiritual wealth. So he is suffering more than Lazarus did in the flesh. Their conditions are reversed. The rich man loses everything. Lazarus gains everything.
May we recognize our own poverty, embrace the grace God gives us in Jesus, and become truly rich for all eternity.
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