A Franciscan Blessing
“Good Heart”
Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit”.
(MATTHEW 21:43)
“St Augustine teaches that we can never be morally neutral. We are either growing in virtue of falling into vice. We never have the luxury of simply being in a holding state. Either we are growing in goodness or sliding in the opposite way. That’s true for all of life.
So also with our attitude toward justice and the poor: either we are actively reaching out to the poor and being more drawn into concern for them or we are unconsciously hardening our hearts against them and unknowingly sliding into attitudes that trivialize their issues and distance ourselves from them. If we are not actively advocating for justice and the poor, it is inevitable that at a point we will, with completely sincere hearts, downplay the issues of poverty, racism, inequality, and injustice.
We can, in all good conscience and with a good heart, be blind toward justice and the poor (Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus: cf. Luke 16:19–31). As I have stated before, we can be moral men and women, pious churchgoers, generous donors to those who seek help from us, and warm to our own families and friends. Yet at the same time we can be blind to ourselves, though not to the poor; be unhealthily elitist, subtle racists, callous toward the environment, and protective of our own privilege. We are still good persons no doubt, but the absence of compassion in one area of our lives leaves us limping morally” (20).
“Tragic Indifference”
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.‘“
“40 Ways To Be During Lent”
Ashes to Easter
– Be Selfless –