LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, September 28, 2025 | Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I open your eyes to the Lazarus at your door—what you do for the least, you do for Me.
LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, September 28, 2025 | Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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GOD'S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
I open your eyes to the Lazarus at your door—what you do for the least, you do for Me.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
Abraham replied,
'My child, remember that you received
what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'
He said, 'Then I beg you, father,
send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers,
so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.'
But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.'
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
The Lazarus at Our Door
This parable isn’t primarily about wealth—it’s about blindness. The rich man wasn’t condemned because he had possessions, but because he failed to see the poor man laid at his gate. Day after day, he stepped over Lazarus. He treated suffering not as an opportunity for mercy, but as background noise to his comfort.
The name “Lazarus” means God is my help. The rich man, nameless in eternity, misses the only name that matters. Here lies the piercing question for us: Who has God placed at our door that we are failing to see?
In Jesus’ time, to recline at table in purple garments was the mark of privilege and honor. Yet Jesus contrasts this man’s fleeting splendor with the eternal reversal of fortune. The “great chasm” Abraham speaks of is the hardened heart—the gap created when love is withheld. It is not geography but disposition. Once formed, such a chasm calcifies into eternity.
And here’s where it hits home: in our families. How easy it is to become blind to the Lazarus closest to us—the spouse who feels unseen, the child craving attention, the parent longing for tenderness. We can get caught feasting on distraction, performance, or screens, while the people entrusted to us languish for scraps of our time and love.
The parable presses urgency into our homes. Today—not tomorrow—we are called to open our eyes, close the chasm, and bring Lazarus in. Parents, this means allowing interruptions to become holy encounters. It means choosing presence over productivity, mercy over moodiness, love over convenience.
The Cross reveals this truth: God saw us in our poverty and did not pass us by. He stooped down in Christ, entered our wounds, and carried us into His house. To live as His disciples, we must do the same.
So today, pray over your children by name. Ask the Holy Spirit to give them merciful eyes—to see the Lazarus at the door of their lives and to respond with love, not avoidance. This is how saints are made.
“God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: ‘Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you’; ‘you received without pay, give without pay.’” (CCC 2443)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Blindness at the Gate: Who is the “Lazarus” at the door of my life right now whom I may be overlooking?
Family Chasm: What small, repeated acts of love could begin to close the “chasm” that sometimes forms in my own home?
Eternal Perspective: How does this parable challenge me to reorder my priorities in light of eternity?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, each share one way you feel unseen or overlooked. After listening, pray over each person by name:
“Father, open the eyes of [Name] to know they are seen, loved, and cherished by You. Fill them with mercy to notice and love the Lazarus at their door.”
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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