Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 28th September 2025
Today’s Gospel presents us with two very different men: a rich man who lived in luxury, and a poor man named Lazarus, who sat at his gate hoping for crumbs. Their destinies after death are reversed: the rich man ends up in torment, while Lazarus is welcomed into Abraham’s bosom.
Jesus is not condemning wealth itself, but indifference. The rich man did not directly harm Lazarus, but he sinned by ignoring him. Every day he passed by and saw him suffering, yet his heart was closed.
The prophet Amos warns against those who enjoy comfort but do not care about the suffering of others. Saint Paul encourages us to pursue “righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness” – values that truly last and draw us closer to God.
The message is simple: our life has value in God’s eyes not by what we possess, but by how much we love and share with others.
There is a story about a wealthy man who prayed: “Lord, show me your face!” That same day, a hungry child asked him for a piece of bread. The man turned him away. That night, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: “Today I showed you my face, but you did not recognise me.”
This is exactly the story of the rich man in the Gospel: every day he had the chance to meet God in Lazarus, but he refused to see.