Gospel : Luke 11 : 1 – 13
Year C
There was a rich man ….at is gate there lay a poor man…
It’s always the same contrast nowadays, as much for individuals as for nations. On the one hand, the rich with their lavish spending …. and at their gate, many poor people… more and more poor! Faced with this, one could easily have said : the world is badly made! The fault is not Your’s, Lord, because You have made this world so that people could live together as brothers, sharing the goods which You created in abundance. But mankind is full of egoism. He wants everything from himself. He does not want to listen to Moses and the Prophets”….. he doesn’t want to listen to You!
You warn us against the dangers of riches. They close in on us and close our eyes to the needs of others. The rich, distinguished by there luxury clothing and sumptuous banquets no longer have time to look around them and to see the poor at their gate. They don’t do them any harm but they just don’t see them!
These riches which blindfold me, is everything that distracts me and closes my heart to others, which prevents me from paying attention to them, from welcoming them and from sharing with them my bread, my friendship, my time….
Open me up to my brothers, Lord. Open my eyes, open my ears, open my heart!…Whether I have money, or none, I can offer a salute, a kindly look …. Open my eyes that I can see You in my brothers, whoever they may be…Open my ears so that I may listen to You, and that I can hear You “In Moses and the Prophets”, in Your Gospel …. Open my heart to Your love, to share it with whoever cries in distress or implores in silence.
