Weekly Reflection

Believers, and at the same time systematically participating in religious practices, are the part of society that is definitely more active in various fields of social life and more willing to speak out on important matters than the so-called statistical man. Nevertheless, this activity is not at all impressive. According to the data of various research centers, it affects only about 7-10% of believers. So many declares belonging to various organizations, movements and church associations. How many actually work in them, speak publicly, react when something wrong happens? It’s very different with it.

The Gospel read on the Solemnity of Christ the King is kind of remorse for all those who stand aside. It begins with a dramatic sentence that illustrates the tragedy that unfolds on Golgotha precisely in the face of human passivity, and perhaps even indifference. “When Jesus was crucified, the people stood and watched.” The evangelist says little. He records only a few words. Very eloquent though.

As we gaze upon the people who stood and watched, we must ask ourselves about our personal reactions to various events. We are certainly not a society indifferent to human miseries of a material nature. In the face of various tragedies and in the face of needs that arise in many places and on various occasions, we react vigorously and show ourselves to be very generous. It’s even worse when it comes to values. Especially our Christian ones, firmly rooted in faith. In the name of the so-called tolerance, we are ready to keep silent, pretend that there is no topic – after all, you must not offend anyone; everyone must be respected.

The problem is that silence is not necessarily a sign of respect. By remaining silent, you can lose your self-respect. And by shutting your mouth in the face of evil and injustice, take the blame of others on yourself.

Increasingly, you can hear that our era has lost faith because people go to church less often, confess little, and are increasingly critical of the Church in everyday life.

When, instead of succumbing to stereotypes and superficial judgments, we may take a look around us, see our parish churches and people we know well, it turns out that the reality near us looks completely different.

“Will the Son of Man find faith on earth when He comes?” This kind of question sounds perhaps a little scary. There is a hint of hopelessness in it. However, this is not about scaring and upsetting. They need to be heard as an invitation and encouragement to each of us. The question of Jesus, which concludes the parable, which says that we must always pray and continue without ceasing touches our consciences. This question is not followed by an answer – it is intended to stimulate the thinking of every person, every church community, every generation. Each of us has to find the answer. Christ wants to remind us that the goal of man’s life is to meet God, and in this context He asks if, when He returns, He will find souls ready to receive Him in order to enter the Father’s house with Him”.

When we read today’s Gospel in this very personal way, there will no longer be a note of hopelessness, but of genuine hope. Only, when everyone feels the eyes of Jesus on themselves and hears that this is not an abstract question, but a call addressed to each one of them, it will take on a completely different, new meaning.

“Will He find the faith on earth?” – this is a question about my faith and the sense of responsibility for this gift in every single person. How long we will – with the full responsibility – start from us, instead of looking around and seek this faith in our surroundings, then so long Jesus’ question will not sudden or frighten us, but can help to awaken even greater zeal and strengthen our hope.

Today’s liturgy recalls two essential aspects of Christian life, which are faith and service. Without faith, it is impossible to please God or to be saved. One must constantly pray for the faith. We find an example of such a prayer in today’s Gospel. The apostles asked Christ: Increase our faith. His union with the Father in prayer, they felt that by their own strength they were unable to comprehend God’s mysteries or fulfill the vocation they had been given. Lord, increase our faith – this is one of the simplest, but also the most important prayers of the Church. Meanwhile, many Christians, when asking God for health or for the successful settlement of difficult matters, forget about faith, treating it as something obvious, once gained forever. The gift of faith that we received at the Baptism we must constantly multiply. If we had the faith like a mustard seed, it would move mountains and replant mighty old trees, that is, it would do what seems humanly impossible.

The faith is invisible. It cannot be seen or measured. There is also no spiritual ammeter that would measure its intensity. We recognize the faith by fruits. That is why Jesus combines the doctrine of faith with the encouragement to develop the attitude of a servant who is guided by selfless love. St. Catherine of Siena expressed this truth very well: “Love is like a maid who washes dirty dishes in the kitchen.”

Human life resembles a bridge that leads from the shores of mortality to the shores of eternity. A one-way bridge that cannot be turned back on. Today’s Gospel parable shows us two people who crossed that bridge: the beggar Lazarus and the rich man. The former lacked everything in life, even basic necessities. The second one was so obscenely rich that he was unable, or perhaps did not want to, to see the cause and relationship between his wealth and someone else’s poverty. 

Finally, we can see both of them on the other side of the bridge, on the edge of eternity. And there their fate changed radically. Lazarus “in the bosom of Abraham” experienced an eternal happiness that he did not experience on earth as he patiently waited for “the waste of the rich man’s table” and when “the dogs came and licked his sores.” The rich man suffers in hell among people who fall into two categories. The first group includes those who have made their lives meaningful to do evil. The second group, in which we find the rich man of the Gospel, includes those who have failed to do good. It seems that there can be definitely more people like these.

Each of us is today in a specific place on the bridge leading to eternity. We must remember that the quality of the eternal life depends on the quality of the earthly life. Life on earth and the decisions we make here will be saved on the other side forever.  So, what kind of life is here, such kind of the eternity will be there.

How many people are trying to imitate – in about 100% – the rich man Jesus speaks of in the present time? How many overworked people, out of breath, just to accumulate some money to be rich? To possess as much as possible! More often we hear the tragic words repeated as a motto of life: “Stupid, because poor, poor because stupid.” There is no reason to be surprised. After all, it is not the amount of wealth itself that is important, but the attitude towards it. Christ condemned the rich man not because he had a lot, but because he gathered to eat, drink, rest and use only. And it doesn’t take thousands of dollars for that. You can have several thousand in your pocket, collected over a week only to be spend in one Sunday evening. For this man, the money collected for a week becomes a deity. He thinks about it from morning to evening, he offers everything for it. What is not done on earth just to get some money? In reference to such a man, the Lord Jesus uses this strong word: “fool“. How many baptized people, how many among us would hear this hard word from God: “fool“? The wisdom of the Gospel lies in the fact that it places everything in its right place, knows what is truly worth, what is really a treasure.

According to the Gospel, the rich man is not the one who has accumulated treasure for himself, but the one who has acquired a great treasure in God’s sight. Christians, as disciples of Christ, should amaze the world with great wisdom of the Gospel, with this constant effort to accumulate true treasures: justice, goodness, mercy, prudence, etc. This is the wealth which decides about a man’s value, and and whoever strives for it is wise. Whoever has understood that true wealth is the wealth of the heart, not the pocket, has discovered the beauty of the Gospel and true Christianity. When faced with wealth, we stand at a crossroads. If we reach for temporal goods to use them, the world will recognize us as wise, but God – as we read in today’s Gospel – as foolish. If we put spiritual goods above money, the world will consider us foolish, but God will consider us wise. We have to choose which wisdom we want to participate in: Divine or Human.

“If any of you, fathers, a son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? Or for a fish, will she give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”

The Greek word scorpios – scorpion – can be rendered “to be sharp”, “cut,” “to prick.” It expresses well the character of an animal called a scorpion, often found in Palestine, and considered a formidable enemy of man.

Scorpions are great in the dark and mostly feed on various types of insects, spiders and other scorpions. Poisonous scorpion’s bites, even if they usually do not lead to death, are very painful. The Apocalypse of St. John mentions “torments after the scorpion” (Rev 9: 5) – an almost proverbial expression.

The scorpion, next to the serpent, is in the Bible a classic symbol of the cruel world hostile to man. The Lord Jesus refers to this symbolism when He says to His disciples: “Behold, I have given you the power to walk on serpents and scorpions and in all the power of the opponent” (Lk 10:19). The journey from Egypt to the promised land is described in a similar way, “through a great and terrible desert, full of poisonous serpents and scorpions” (Dt 8:15). The Prophet Ezekiel calls his enemies scorpions. The Book of Syracides likens a wicked wife to a scorpion: “whoever takes her for himself, as if he had grabbed a scorpion with a hand.”

Christ explains to the apostles the meaning of prayer with three comparisons. He teaches that being a student is similar to the relationship of a son to a father who is asking for something to eat. While the first two comparisons seem understandable – the bread and the stone, the fish and the water snake – seem at least a bit similar to each other, the egg and the scorpion are rather difficult to confuse. The possibility of giving someone a scorpion instead of an egg is surprising, it is unlikely. What we are dealing with here is a gradation: these comparisons ultimately tend to compile a real thing with unreal, so as to the perfect degree indicate the trust we should have in God.

The attitude of child’s trust does not prevent us from praying to God persistently. Let the conclusion of today’s thoughts be the famous prayer:

“I asked God to give me the power to succeed,
 – He made me weak so that I might learn a humble obedience.
I asked for health to accomplish great deeds,
 – He gave me a disability so that I could do better things.
I asked for wealth so that I could be happy,
 – He gave me poverty so that I could be wise.
I asked for a power so that people would value me
 – He made me feel helpless to need God.
I asked for a companion not to live alone,
 – He gave me a heart so that I could love all my brothers.
I asked for a joy,
– and I received the life so that I could enjoy with everything.
I got nothing that I asked for
 – but I got what I expected.
Almost in spite of myself
 – my prayers not formulated were answered.
I am the most gifted of all people.”

Anonymous text in Rehabilitation Institute in New York