Good things came to you and bad things went the way of Lazarus; now he is being comforted while you are in agony. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man is among the stories found in the Gospel according to St. Luke which emphasize Jesus’ teaching on the universality of God’s salvation. Though slightly biased towards those who were hitherto considered unworthy of God’s consideration (the poor and sick, women, the people of the nations [Gentiles]), the evangelist Luke presents Jesus as a preacher of salvation that is accessible to all. Lazarus and the rich man could not have been more different. They lived their respective lives on earth as was dictated by their different fortunes – the rich man enjoying the best things that wealth could buy, while Lazarus languished in poverty. However, at the end of their earthly lives, the two experienced a reversal of fortunes. The rich man found himself in torment while Lazarus found himself in a place of comfort at the bosom of Abraham. 
Even though no reason is provided to account for the rich man's torment in the abode of the dead vis-à-vis Lazarus' being comforted at Abraham's side, we always hypothesize that the rich man was being punished because he had a good time while on earth, and that Lazarus was now enjoying the things he was not fortunate enough to have in his earthly life. Abraham's response can even be seen to be supporting such a supposition: my child, remember that you received what was good in life while Lazarus received the bad, but now he is being comforted here. To be fair to the rich man, we shouldn’t read too much into what is not given. We are not told that he was mean to Lazarus or that he refused his call for help. The rich man just lived his life as was dictated by his wealth and social status. He might not even have noticed Lazarus eating scraps that fell from his table. His social status had created such a great schism between Lazarus and himself so much so that even if he had seen him, he might not have known how to relate to him. Perhaps it is this inability to form a relationship with Lazarus that became his undoing. 
The rich man was so much buried in his wealth and comfortable life that he failed to notice the human being Lazarus who was crying out for help. He was blinded by his wealth so much so that he failed to listen to Moses who, through the Scriptures, was calling on him to put to practice the greatest commandment: love (of neighbor). Wealth had become his strength, and his stomach became his God (cf. Philippians 3:19b). The rich man found himself tormented in the afterlife because once separated from his wealth and social status, he had nothing to lean on. He found himself in agony because separated from his wealth, he had become a barren bush in the desert. He was being tormented, not because of his wealth, but because he had not put his trust in God (cf. Jeremiah 17:5ff). 
Lent is a time wherein we are reminded to repair the relationships which we might have knowingly or unknowingly severed. Lent is an opportunity afforded us by the Church to practice the virtue of charity even as we recognize God as the sole giver of the good things that we enjoy. Lent is an opportunity for us to step back from the busyness of our earthly life in order to re-evaluate what is of importance in our lives. It is an opportunity for us to re-align ourselves to God by making an effort to show our love for him and for our brothers and sisters in need. May we open our hearts and ears to the word of the Lord that come to us in the Scriptures and remain faithful to it.