Today’s Gospel emphasizes the unbridgeable gap between the self-centered, self-promoting life of the rich man and the total poverty of spirit that defines the poor man (Luke 16:19-31).

The rich man, who is unnamed, is not condemned because he had possessions, but because he failed to see the poor man over whom he passed daily. For the rich man, the glaring needs of another is rejected wholesale as an inconvenience and annoyance.

In God’s own act of mercy, the rich man received daily opportunities to practice love of neighbor and become less self-absorbed.

The name of the poor man – Lazarus – means “God is my help.”

Who has God placed before us that we are failing to see?