Paige Lim's Best Work:Gospel Reflection Output

Best Work:

Gospel Reflection Output

By: Paige Lim

At the height of our world’s continual modernization, the division between the affluent and impoverished continues to exist. We live in the world where marginalization, ostracism, and callous indifference are preeminent–the kind of world God wishes us to veer from.

People nowadays live to earn as though the only thing that is of great significance is how much they have amassed in their lives. Everyone is blinded by the weight that material things seem to have, blinded by how much status is gained with the acquisition of such things. We are all so concentrated on the weight of material things that we forget about the actual depth and substance such earthy things lack. Materialism or the goal of amassing such wealth transcends virtue and spirituality. People become so convoluted by all the extravagance and luxury that surrounds them to the point that they become indifferent; they forget to become a real person. They forget about others.

Last Sunday’s Gospel only corroborates how callous and indifferent the world has become. Though this parable was written after almost twenty centuries, we still see the the selfish enjoyment of the rich and the sad plight of the poor running rampant. It is not enough to bathe in riches at the end of the day while others bathe in scraps and left-over food. As Christians, we are called to act of generosity. The world was made for everyone to thrive in it. We must constantly remember that blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy. If you were paying attention to the context of the Gospel, this specific beatitude can be read in between the lines. Had the rich man shared what he had or accommodated the beggar Lazarus, then maybe he, too, when brought to the gates of heaven, would have been pardoned or would have been shown mercy.

It has been more than twenty centuries, yet our world remains indifferent. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a world that advances not only scientifically and technologically, but also a world that advances with virtue and spirituality? Wouldn’t it be nice to see a world that earns to live, not lives to earn?

It starts with us.