a tree and a vine

Today we hear from St Hermas in A Year with the Church Fathers. He tells us that the rich and the poor are like trees and vines. But you might be surprised which is which.

He says that the poor are like the trees. They are rich in prayer and faith. The rich men who give money to the poor are like the vines, depending on the prayers of the poor men to make them more down to earth and to be more generous.

Especially in the west, we tend to think of wealthy people as the trees, and the poor as the vines that depend on them. But from an eternal, spiritual perspective, it's reversed. The rich man depends on the generosity of the poor... in prayer. You even see this in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, because in THIS life, Lazarus ate the scraps from the poor man's table, but in the next life, the rich man depended on Lazarus to dip his finger in the water and cool the rich man's thirst. In the parable, Lazarus was prevented from doing this by the great chasm between them. But in our spiritual lives, the poor CAN in fact alleviate the spiritual poverty of the rich... by praying for them.

Because nothing is impossible with God.

God, thanks for teaching us about the rich and the poor. Help us to be generous... with our wealth, and with our prayers.