Lack Of Compassion

It is compassion that moves us to identify with those who are suffering and to help them.

Reflection on Today’s Readings, Thursday of 2nd Week of Lent, February 29th, 2024
Texts: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; Luke 16:19-31 

Today’s gospel reading reveals that lack of compassion could lead to eternal damnation. What the rich man lacks is heartfelt compassion. He had no compassion for Lazarus, the poor. It is compassion that moves us to identify with those who are suffering and to help them. When we lack compassion we show either hardness of heart or indifference. The attitude of the rich man, in the gospel, is that of indifference. Indifference grows into hardness of heart.  

It is also clear in the gospel that the message of salvation has been given to man. Man has what is necessary to make us believe the message. Hence, father Abraham says, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead." God had to become man to speak the word of salvation to us. That emphasises further that no better way to communicate the message of salvation to than through man.  

Putting trust in man leads to damnation

One thing we must not do is to put our trust in man. Putting trust in man leads to damnation. Prophet Jeremiah says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the  Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”  

Putting our trust in man makes us barren and unproductive. We lack what we need to be productive when we put our trust in man. 

We should always put our trust in God. When we put our trust in God we have what we need to be fulfilling and productive. Prophet Jeremiah says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the  Lord, whose trust is the  Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."  

Prayer 

O God, who delight in innocence and restore it, direct the hearts of your servants to yourself, that, caught up in the fire of your Spirit, we may be found steadfast in faith and effective in works. Amen  

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke