Thursday of the second week in Lent
Luke 16:19-31
“But now he is consoled, and truly you are tormented.”
A certain man was wealthy, and he was clothed in purple and in fine linen. And he feasted splendidly every day.
And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered with sores, wanting to be filled with the crumbs which were falling from the wealthy man’s table. But no one gave it to him. And even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Then it happened that the beggar died, and he was carried by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham. Now the wealthy man also died, and he was entombed in Hell. Then lifting up his eyes, while he was in torments, he saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And crying out, he said: ‘Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to refresh my tongue. For I am tortured in this fire.’
And Abraham said to him: ‘Son, recall that you received good things in your life, and in comparison, Lazarus received bad things. But now he is consoled, and truly you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been established, so that those who might want to cross from here to you are not able, nor can someone cross from there to here.’
And he said: ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torments.’ And Abraham said to him: ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
So he said: ‘No, father Abraham. But if someone were to go to them from the dead, they would repent.’ But he said to him: ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe even if someone has resurrected from the dead.’ ”
What do the Fathers say?
St AMBROSE. But not all poverty is holy, or all riches criminal, but as luxury disgraces riches, so does holiness commend poverty.
PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. The poor man lay at his gate for this reason, that the rich man might not say, I never saw him, no one told me; for he saw him both going out and returning.
We have heard how both fared on earth, let us see what their condition is among the dead. That which was temporal has passed away; that which follows is eternal. Both died; the one angels receive, the other torments.
St John CHRYSOSTOM. He, the rich man, died then indeed in body, but his soul was already dead. For he did none of the works of the soul. All that warmth which issues from the love of our neighbour had fled, and he was more dead than his body.
As it made the poor man’s affliction heavier while he lived to lie before the rich man’s gate, and to behold the prosperity of others, so when the rich man was dead it added to his desolation, that he lay in hell and saw the happiness of Lazarus, feeling not only by the nature of His own torments, but also by the comparison of Lazarus’s honour, his own punishment the more intolerable.
It was not because he was rich that he was tormented, but because he was not merciful.
St AUGUSTINE. The burial in hell is the lowest depth of torment which after this life devours the proud and unmerciful.
St THEOPHYLACT. The great gulf signifies the distance of the righteous from sinners. For as their affections were different, so also their abiding places.
Pope St GREGORY the Great. And here we must remark what fearful sufferings are heaped upon the rich man in flames. For in addition to his punishment, his knowledge and memory are preserved. He knew Lazarus whom he despised, he remembered his brethren whom he left. So that sinners in punishment may be still more punished, they both see the glory of those whom they had despised, and are harassed about the punishment of those whom they have unprofitably loved.
And he who had despised the words of God, supposed that his followers could not hear them.
St GREGORY OF NYSSA. But we are also taught something else, besides, that the soul of Lazarus is neither anxious about present things, nor looks back to what it has left behind, but the rich man, even after death is held down by his carnal life. For a man who becomes altogether carnal in his heart, not even after he has put off his body is out of the reach of his passions.
