Read and listen to the Word of March 9, 2023

Summary

Thursday of the second week of Lent

First Reading

Cursed is he who trusts in man; blessed are those who trust in the Lord.

From the book of the prophet Jeremiah
Jer 17.5-10

Thus says the Lord:
"Cursed be the man who trusts in man,
and places its support in the flesh,
turning his heart away from the Lord.

It will be like a tamarisk in the steppe;
he will not see the good coming,
will dwell in dry places in the wilderness,
in a land of salt air, where no one can live.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
and the Lord is his trust.
It's like a tree planted by a stream,
towards the current it spreads its roots;
do not fear when the heat comes,
its leaves remain green,
in the year of drought there is no pain,
it does not stop producing fruit.

Nothing is more treacherous than the heart
and it hardly heals!

Who can know it?
I, the Lord, search the mind
and wise hearts,
to give to each according to his conduct,
according to the fruit of his deeds".

Word of God.

Responsorial Psalm

From Ps 1

A. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.

Blessed is the man who does not enter the council of the wicked,
does not remain in the way of sinners
and does not sit in the company of the arrogant,
but in the law of the Lord he finds his joy,
his law meditates day and night. R.

It is like a tree planted by streams,
which bears fruit in its time:
its leaves do not wither
and everything he does, he does well. R.

Not so, not so the wicked,
but like chaff that the wind scatters;
for the Lord watches over the path of the righteous,
while the way of the wicked perishes. R.

Gospel acclamation

Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus.

Beati coloro che custodiscono la parola di God
with an upright and good heart
and they produce fruit with endurance. (Cf. Lk 8:15)

Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus.

Gospel

In life, you have received your goods, and Lazarus his evils; but now he is consoled, but you are in the midst of torment.

The Word of March 9, 2023 — *dogs lick Lazarus' wounds*

From the Gospel according to Luke
Luke 16:19-31

During that time, Jesus he said to Pharisees:
“There was a rich man, who wore purple clothes and the finest linen, and every day he gave himself a lavish feast. A poor man, named Lazarus, stood at his door, covered in sores, eager to feed himself with what fell from the rich man's table; but it was the dogs that came to lick his sores.

One day the poor man died and was carried by the angels next to Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. Standing in hell amidst torments, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham in the distance, and Lazarus beside him. Then shouting he said: "Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and wet my tongue, because I suffer terribly in this flame”.

Ma Abramo rispose: “Son, ricòrdati che, nella vita, tu hai ricevuto i tuoi beni, e Lazzaro i suoi mali; ma ora in questo modo lui è consolato, tu invece sei in mezzo ai tormenti. Per di più, tra noi e voi è stato fissato un grande abisso: coloro che di qui vogliono passare da voi, non possono, né di lì possono giungere fino a noi”.

And he replied: "Then, father, please send Lazarus to my home father, because I have five brothers. He warns them severely, lest they also come to this place of torment." But Abraham answered: “They have Moses and the Prophets; listen to them".

And he replied, "No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead comes to them, they will be converted." Abraham replied: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if one rose from the dead"».

Word of the Lord.

St. Gregory the Great (ca 540-604)

dad, doctor of the Church

Book XII, SC 212

Pass to eternal life!

“You strengthened him for a while, to make him pass on to eternal life” (Job 14:20 Vg). Invigorated for a while, man has been as for a limited time he has received the strength to live in this world so as to pass on to an eternal life in which no limit will be able to end his life.

But in the short duration in which it has been reinvigorated, it puts itself in a state of finding in eternity an infinite joy or torments from which it will no longer be able to escape. And it is precisely because he has been invigorated for some time that Job immediately adds these right words: "You will change his face and dismiss him". Man's face is changed when his beauty is destroyed by death.

He is also dismissed, because from the possessions he has acquired he is forced to pass, against his will, to the world of eternity; and when he gets there, what will remain of those goods of which, at the price of so many problems, he has been master? He ignores them.

So here are other words: “His will be honored sons, will they be despised? he does not know" (Job 14:21 Vg). For if those who are still alive do not know where the souls of the dead are, so the dead do not know what life is like in the flesh of those who survive them: so far is the life of the spirit from that of the flesh.

E se corporeo ed incorporeo sono opposti nella loro natura, sono altrettanto distinti nella conoscenza. Distinzione che però non vale per le anime sante, poiché, se esse vedono in sé stesse il raggiante splendore di God onnipotente, non si può credere che egli abbia fuori di loro un’esistenza che ignorano.

WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER

And that Lazarus with his needs and his miseries, his illnesses, was really the Lord who knocked on the door, so that this man would open his heart and mercy could enter.

But no, he didn't see, it was just closed: for him beyond the door there was nothing. (…)

Chiediamo al Signore, mentre pensiamo questo, no, sulla nostra vita, la grazia di vedere sempre, i Lazzari che bussano al cuore, e uscire da noi stessi con generosità, con atteggiamento di misericordia, perché la misericordia di God possa entrare nel nostro cuore! (Santa Martha February 25, 2016)