Here and Now with Francis 2/26/16 (Lazarus, rich man, beggar, person)

By Anonymous

From a homily
The Pontiff emphasized that the aridity of this life was accentuated by a particular detail: in speaking about this man, the Gospel “does not say what his name was; it only says that he was a rich man”. This detail is significant, because “when your name is only an adjective, it is because you have lost: you’ve lost substance, you’ve lost strength”. One might say: “this person is rich, this one is powerful, this one can do anything, this one is a career priest, a career bishop...”. It often happens, the Pope continued, that we begin to “designate people with adjectives, not with names, because they do not have substance”. This was the reality of the rich man in the day’s reading. At this point Francis asked a question: “Didn’t God who is Father, have mercy on this man? Didn’t he knock at his heart in order to move him?”. The answer: “Yes, he was at the door, he was at the door, in the person of Lazarus”. Lazarus: this man has a name. Lazarus, the Pope added, “with his needs and his miseries, his disease, was actually the Lord who was knocking at the door, so that this man would open his heart and mercy could enter”. Instead, the rich man “didn’t see”, because “he was closed”, and “for him there was nothing beyond the door”. [link]

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