Thursday of the Second Week of Lent – The long road to freedom

Life as a Dominican friar is really pretty comfortable. We get to wear great clothes and eat good food. OK, so it might be a bit of an exaggeration to say we feast sumptuously every day, but we do get to feast a few times in the year. So in the light of today’s Gospel about the rich man Dives and the poor man Lazarus, should I be concerned? The answer is probably yes.

The problem with Dives is not so much that he dresses and eats well, but it’s to do with his relationship with Lazarus. Lazarus is his closest neighbour, yet he is totally ignored. If charity begins at home, then Dives is a depressing example of someone who lacks charity.

Being charitable is not about acting for the good of others to the detriment of ourselves. It’s more to do with recognising that our good is intimately bound up with the good of others. Charity is about forming bonds of friendship. Unfortunately this is something we can easily forget.

Last year Jean Vanier gave a very moving talk at Blackfriars about his experience of living with severely disabled people in his L’Arche community. What he said seems particularly relevant to today’s Gospel. There is a tyranny of normality in which people have to worry about climbing social ladders and impressing people, perhaps the sort of world Dives lived in. Then there are the people who society would rather forget, the people like Lazarus who suffer from years of poverty and humiliation. And there is a huge chasm which keeps these two groups apart, the chasm which is created by fear.

But what Jean Vanier says is full of hope. He speaks of the joy of discovering that we are part of an incredible human family, of seeing the beauty of people, and of how he has been deeply healed by living in L’Arche. His talk is called ‘the Long Road to Freedom’. I certainly recognise I’ve got a long way to go on this road. I’m conscious of the fear which prevents me from sharing God’s love with others. So yes, I am concerned about today’s parable, but I trust that if I daily turn to Christ crucified, then He will break down the barriers that separate me from His love.