When the Heart Whispers: If Only!

Last night I asked ChatGPT: Tell me, how many songs are there that say, ‘Do not judge’?

The answer came back: Impossible to count. There are too many, in every language, in every style.

And yet… the Gospel today reminds us that judgment is real.

I then read the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)and it really moved me. The rich man is judged and condemned, and the way the evangelist describes his fate is so vivid that it stays with you long after hearing it: In his torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So, he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.”

A little while ago, I celebrated a funeral and asked the funeral director to include a Gospel passage that ends with a mention of the final judgment. When the day came, I noticed that the line had disappeared from the booklet. Curious, I asked about it, and the answer was simple: the family had felt it was “inappropriate”.

Whether we think it is appropriate or not, judgment will come. We will be asked if our lives were spent in self-obsession, curved in on ourselves, or if we have understood that we are not alone in this world.

We will be judged by those around us. At times, even by our own family. We may say, I don’t care what others think, but deep down we do care.

And in the end, when death draws near, the harshest judgment of all will rise from within us:

If only I had done…If only I had spoken…If only I had gone…If only I had chosen…

And in that moment, we will realise — too late — that judgment is real. Just as the rich man discovered too late when he cried out: Father, I beg you, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers — warn them, so that they do not come to this place of torment.

Judgment will come after death. On this, there is little I can say — except that I can only pray to be ready, and to be found worthy of God’s mercy.

So why speak of this today? Not to frighten you. Not to weigh you down with guilt.But to awaken us.To remind us that we still have time. Time to live not for ourselves, but for God and for others.

It may help our meditation the words of Victor Frankl: It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us… Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems.

(Man’s Search for Meaning). Photo by Bradley Hook on Unsplash