Let us break down indifference

Listening to the Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Listening to the Word

Luke 16:19-31

There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there used to lie a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man's table. Even dogs came and licked his sores. Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham's embrace. The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace. So he cried out, "Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames." Abraham said, "My son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours." So he said, "Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father's house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too." Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them." The rich man replied, "Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent." Then Abraham said to him, "If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

Reflection

“To see, to be moved by, to bend on, to touch, to listen, to greet, to look at, to empathize, to put ourselves in the shoes of the other…” what are the other verbs that could describe love, and care for others?

Moreover, we should ask ourselves this question: Who is the other person for me?
Is she/he a threat, a competitor, or an enemy? Yes, we could have this perception because we experience in our lives that we compete with the other, we experience jealousy, we compare, we get angry, and we fight. Thinking well this is not so bad. The reason is that what is worse is INDIFFERENCE. The worst evil is to have no consideration. We suffer a lot when we are not considered. It is heavy not to be appreciated. Indifference is worse than the first attitude, to a certain extent it is not good, but it implies some interactions with the neighbors.
The rich man, sadly anonymous, but it could not be otherwise, is completely indifferent to Lazarus. He has lost his condition of being human. Pope Francis, in his last encyclical letter “Fratelli Tutti”, writes:

“In today’s world, the sense of belonging to a single human family is fading, and the dream of working together for justice and peace seems an outdated utopia. What reigns instead is a cool, comfortable, and globalized indifference, born of deep disillusionment concealed behind a deceptive illusion: thinking that we are all-powerful while failing to realize that we are all in the same boat.” FT 31

Once a French woman who converted to Christianity, Simon Wiel wrote: “The first miracle of our lives is to realize that the other person exists.” I say thanks to God because when I move around the parish, I look at people. I rejoice when they greet me: “Hey father!!” I feel accepted and welcome. At the same time, I try to encounter the people looking at their eyes and smiling at them. I like the word “kapatid”. You are my brother and my sister. Let us make ours the verbs that are listed at the beginning because if we can live out some of them, we will experience that our lives are fulfilled.