Eye-ing for the 'Lazarus".

Okay, I haven't been exactly fulfilling my duties as a Christian. I, like many, well, let's not do a comparison here... Here I am, again, the 3rd week? Well nevertheless, today's homily inspired me to write this entry.

Lying is one thing. To make sure you sound convincing enough is another thing. But what I'm trying to proof here (to myself, family, or anyone, yes, God) is that I'm trying hard to know the word of God, and to understand the true meaning of it. There's no point in the beginning to tell a stupid lie, and learn nothing from it. Well, hear me out.

What the gospel tells of is this parable about a rich man and a poor man, Lazarus. The parable tells of the plight of Lazarus, who lived poorly with insufficient food and clothings outside the rich man's gate, and of course, about how the rich man lived his luxurious life, having no pity for Lazarus throughout his life. When they both died, Lazarus went up to heaven, and the rich man, well, went to hell. This parable is not about karma, what goes around, comes around.. Well, nothing of that sort, really.

First of all, I think we all can relate to the rich man. I mean, we might not be as rich as the richest man in the world, but don't we all see people like "Lazarus" at times? Why the name Lazarus? Lazarus means "God is my help", so the name was mentioned for a reason. Yes, a lot of us can argue about the fear of giving to the wrong person, "con men", people who doesn't deserve that much, etc. But what about people whom "God is my help"? (Credit: Deacon Greg Kandra)

Sometimes, it only takes a while, maybe a second, to open your eyes and see. What people choose to not see, is what we must take the initiative to do so. I admit I'm skeptical of people who approach me with those black files and asking for money. But now to look at it, these are the people who is doing something, yes, maybe to earn money (if you don't want to do it, well, someone else is going to) and sometimes people, even I have wrong perception about those people. But the fact that, these people are going around, for a cause, even if there are other intentions (make a living maybe) which is not wrong, in my opinion.

Sometimes, it's not the things that we do that sends us to hell, like the rich man, but what we don't do. Ignoring Lazarus, the poor man, who only live off the rich man's scraps. Maybe we should pause for a while, and think, are we like the rich man, ignoring the "Lazarus" we see everyday? Are we choosing what we want to see, and ignore what we call disgusting or not pleasant to the eye?

I still remember what *Lisa from NKFM told me. She said, "If you have the heart to give, then give. If you're scared or skeptical, then don't" In other words, give unconditionally. If you're going to be scared whether you've been conned, then you've just lost the grace of giving.

When asked about people going around asking for money, she just smiled and said, "This people need to make a living too. In this world, there is no free lunches, people are not just going to help you for free. It's fair for them to take RM 1 from every RM 5 (for example), because they are the ones that go around, and also they printed their own bookmarks. We're sitting here at the office and they are out there doing the job, they too need some commission. What's wrong in that?"

*names are changed due to protection of privacy.

Yes, I have a lot to say. Once again, thanks for reading... If you enjoyed it, I'm glad. Peace y'all!
Cheers to another busy week!!!