THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Fabio Attard, SDB
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus, found in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 16:19-31, is not simply a story about the just distribution of material wealth. It is a story that penetrates the heart of the human condition, confronting us with a disturbing question: who truly owns whom? Did the rich man own his wealth, or did wealth own him, turning him into its slave?
This reversal of perspective opens a space for profound reflection. The man in the parable was condemned not for stealing or exploiting, but for becoming blind and deaf. His tragedy lay not in having, but in not seeing and not hearing. He lived in a world reduced solely to the sphere of his home, his possessions, his immediate well-being. At the door of his house lay Lazarus, covered in sores that the dogs came to lick, but that poor man had become invisible, his silent cry inaudible.
