Gerard Gaspillo's Best Work: Sunday Gospel eflection of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Gerard Gaspillo SrD

Going back to the gospel, I have noticed that Jesus reverses the rich and poor people in our current life and in the next life. I have realized that Jesus notices everything we do in this life; our success, our joys, our daily actions, and most of all, our hardships. I think that this is because during our experience of hardship and problems we remember Jesus' own sacrifice for us. Just like Jesus, we should never let the hardships rule our lives and instead turn to God for help, as Jesus did even to His last breath on the cross. I think that we should all try to pray more often, because it is because of our prayers and dependence on God during our hardships that we get over the experiences stronger.

In this story, the rich man never really helped Lazarus. While he was enjoying a lavish life, Lazarus was outside, with no food to eat, no shelter to sleep under, and no decent clothes to wear. This story epitomizes the constant struggle of many of our countrymen. While some of us are living a comfortable and leisurely life, a lot of our own people are struggling just to eat a meal everyday. Although this is an unfair and cruel reality, we can no longer hope for miracles like being able to feed every Filipino who has no food to eat. We cannot hang on to the notion that someone will be able to craft a plan that will feed our countrymen. By now, we should have all realized that miracles are not like magic, pulling food and money out of nowhere. We should know that miracles are the small things done with great love by ordinary people like us.

In the latter part of the Gospel, the rich man wanted to warn his fellow brothers that they had to change. Saint Peter said that they have already known and that it is up to them to decide whether to believe or not. I have realized that sometimes I can be compared to the rich man's brothers. The message of God is clear and precise; but, it is still up to us to decide whether we will decide to apply it to our daily life or not. I have realized this because I noticed that a lot of us are pious churchgoers; never missing a mass every Sunday. But after the mass and the homily, how many of us really try to apply the message into our lives? I think that as Christians, we should be the first to acknowledge that we are not perfect and everyday it is a struggle between choosing the easy thing and the right thing to do.

We should continue to do what we know is right and continue to pray, because it is through prayers that we are able to get over each hardship that comes our way.