Well, if we didn’t get the message last week, God is giving it to us again this week. If anything, this week’s readings speak even more clearly of the need to care for others. In the first reading, God uses Amos to speak to the people of Israel concerning their obsession with wealth at the expense of the poor. The Israelites paid dearly for their refusal to listen, as we know. In the second reading, Saint Paul encourages Timothy to live a virtuous life; and in the Gospel we hear the story of Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus told to the Pharisees. The rich man in the story also paid a terrible price for refusing even to care for Lazarus’ basic needs. We live in arguably the wealthiest country in the world. In spite of current inflation and various shortages of goods, we have it better than literally billions of people. To a large degree, we can’t change that fact; we were born into this country at this point in history. There is no sin in that; God put us where He wanted us. However, complacency with our situation, and that of others, can certainly be sinful. The rich man’s sin wasn’t that he was rich. Rather, it was that he didn’t use his wealth to benefit anyone else…even someone who was clearly visible to him. None of us can change the entire world situation, but we can help. There are those in our own community that need our help, financial or otherwise. Where possible, we can help others by means of financial donations. Clearly, though, some issues are out of our reach either financially or physically…but that doesn’t mean they should be of no concern to us. Prayer is powerful!