Homily 26th Sunday of Year (26 Sept 2010)
Fr James McTavish, FMVD
Rich man…poor man
Well today the prophet Amos is not holding back. He is firing in to the idle rich, those who are lying in their beds, eating the best meats, listening to music, drinking wine and using the top perfumes. (See Amos 6, 1, 4-7). What is the concern of Amos? That those same people are not concerned about the collapse of Israel, they are not concerned for their country.
How refreshing to meet people who are genuinely concerned for the welfare of others tough. Recently I met a very well to do lady from high society here in the Philippines. While many of her friends had emigrated to the United States to live in ore luxury, she had opted to remain in Manila and dedicate to helping the poor. Well done girl! Well she is actually over 70 years old but is obviously still young at heart! How encouraging to meet a person who believes that we can make a difference. As today’s psalm recounts “Blessed he who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146)
The gospel today makes for strong reading. It is the classic story of the rich man, traditionally known as “Dives” and the poor man Lazarus. The rich man is enjoying the high life and poor Lazarus is lying at his door, hungry and with sores. They both die and Lazarus is comforted by Abraham whereas Dives is suffering in the torment of flames. Dramatic stuff! The rich man begs for help but is denied and then pleads that Lazarus can go and warn his 5 brothers, who presumably are living in much the same way. Permission is denied and an interesting dialogue ensues between Dives and Abraham. “Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'" Meaning to say, if we do not listen to the Word of God then we would not listen to Christ himself should he actually speak to us. In fact, when we listen to the Word of God, Christ speaks, that is why it is called the Word of God!
One danger is not be challenged by the gospel, to think that it is written for someone else, for a rich person. What if this story were told for you and ? Is it not true that we are rich, materially speaking when compared to many in our modern world, and also rich spiritually speaking, when perhaps we are enriched by our faith and belief in heaven and many people are dying from ‘starvation’ – starved of meaning, starved of hope, starved of good models to guide them.
We must not just presume that anyway we are not worse than others – perhaps we might get a surprise at the end of our lives when we see that we were the only ones not responding. The other day we had a rosary and many of our poor neighbors attended including mums with their children. One young boy of 7 years old told us how he had found Jesus under a bridge. We asked him to explain. He was walking home from school and found a child, aged 4 or 5, living under a bridge. The child was unkempt and hungry. The boy told us that he saw Jesus in this child and brought him home to his parents. They contacted the police and found that the child had run away from home. Eventually they managed to re-unite him with his distraught parents. What was quite amazing was to see the sensitivity of this young boy to the plight of others. It was a strong reminder for me never to lose the sensitivity to those who suffer, to the poor, to the hungry.
Sometimes our world of today encourages a different kind of sensitivity. Two boys were in the city and one wanted to teach the other the ways of the city. He cried out for help and no-one noticed, no one stopped and al carried on business as usual. Then he took a coin and dropped it. It hit the ground and bounced, ching ching ching. Everybody stopped, everyone looked, all noticed. This easily explains why many have more than one house and others have no roof over their heads.
The New Jerome Biblical commentary makes the following interesting observation “the gospel focuses on the rich man, his five brothers and the reader. It asks : will the 5 brothers and reader follow the example of the rich man or heed Jesus’ teaching and that of the Old Testament about care of the poor and needy?” My father taught us as children that if a Christian does not help the poor he will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Let us pray that we will not become insensitive to the realities around us. May we remember our eternal destiny. I close with the story of a quite well off lady, with a comfortable life, who went to Church and at Christmas gave a bit to the poor. When she died she was met by St Peter at the gates of heaven. She was to be shown to her eternal dwelling place. The first houses she saw were mansions – quite beautiful with manicured gardens and bright lights lining the boulevard. But his was not her house and St Peter beckoned her onwards. There were some semi-detached houses, quite respectable, with a pleasant façade. But alas it was not here her eternal dwelling place. The road narrowed and became a dirt track, there was no longer any lighting and St Peter arrived to a little shanty shack. The woman looked surprised. “Well,” St Peter said “I did the best I could. But you sent me up so few building materials during your life on earth, what else could I build with what you made me?”
For this reason we are challenged by St Paul, in the same way these words exhorted Timothy 2,000 years ago “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called” (see 1 Tim 6, 11-16). Let us strive to do good while we still have the chance. Amen.
Rich man…poor man
Well today the prophet Amos is not holding back. He is firing in to the idle rich, those who are lying in their beds, eating the best meats, listening to music, drinking wine and using the top perfumes. (See Amos 6, 1, 4-7). What is the concern of Amos? That those same people are not concerned about the collapse of Israel, they are not concerned for their country.
How refreshing to meet people who are genuinely concerned for the welfare of others tough. Recently I met a very well to do lady from high society here in the Philippines. While many of her friends had emigrated to the United States to live in ore luxury, she had opted to remain in Manila and dedicate to helping the poor. Well done girl! Well she is actually over 70 years old but is obviously still young at heart! How encouraging to meet a person who believes that we can make a difference. As today’s psalm recounts “Blessed he who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146)
The gospel today makes for strong reading. It is the classic story of the rich man, traditionally known as “Dives” and the poor man Lazarus. The rich man is enjoying the high life and poor Lazarus is lying at his door, hungry and with sores. They both die and Lazarus is comforted by Abraham whereas Dives is suffering in the torment of flames. Dramatic stuff! The rich man begs for help but is denied and then pleads that Lazarus can go and warn his 5 brothers, who presumably are living in much the same way. Permission is denied and an interesting dialogue ensues between Dives and Abraham. “Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'" Meaning to say, if we do not listen to the Word of God then we would not listen to Christ himself should he actually speak to us. In fact, when we listen to the Word of God, Christ speaks, that is why it is called the Word of God!
One danger is not be challenged by the gospel, to think that it is written for someone else, for a rich person. What if this story were told for you and ? Is it not true that we are rich, materially speaking when compared to many in our modern world, and also rich spiritually speaking, when perhaps we are enriched by our faith and belief in heaven and many people are dying from ‘starvation’ – starved of meaning, starved of hope, starved of good models to guide them.
We must not just presume that anyway we are not worse than others – perhaps we might get a surprise at the end of our lives when we see that we were the only ones not responding. The other day we had a rosary and many of our poor neighbors attended including mums with their children. One young boy of 7 years old told us how he had found Jesus under a bridge. We asked him to explain. He was walking home from school and found a child, aged 4 or 5, living under a bridge. The child was unkempt and hungry. The boy told us that he saw Jesus in this child and brought him home to his parents. They contacted the police and found that the child had run away from home. Eventually they managed to re-unite him with his distraught parents. What was quite amazing was to see the sensitivity of this young boy to the plight of others. It was a strong reminder for me never to lose the sensitivity to those who suffer, to the poor, to the hungry.
Sometimes our world of today encourages a different kind of sensitivity. Two boys were in the city and one wanted to teach the other the ways of the city. He cried out for help and no-one noticed, no one stopped and al carried on business as usual. Then he took a coin and dropped it. It hit the ground and bounced, ching ching ching. Everybody stopped, everyone looked, all noticed. This easily explains why many have more than one house and others have no roof over their heads.
The New Jerome Biblical commentary makes the following interesting observation “the gospel focuses on the rich man, his five brothers and the reader. It asks : will the 5 brothers and reader follow the example of the rich man or heed Jesus’ teaching and that of the Old Testament about care of the poor and needy?” My father taught us as children that if a Christian does not help the poor he will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Let us pray that we will not become insensitive to the realities around us. May we remember our eternal destiny. I close with the story of a quite well off lady, with a comfortable life, who went to Church and at Christmas gave a bit to the poor. When she died she was met by St Peter at the gates of heaven. She was to be shown to her eternal dwelling place. The first houses she saw were mansions – quite beautiful with manicured gardens and bright lights lining the boulevard. But his was not her house and St Peter beckoned her onwards. There were some semi-detached houses, quite respectable, with a pleasant façade. But alas it was not here her eternal dwelling place. The road narrowed and became a dirt track, there was no longer any lighting and St Peter arrived to a little shanty shack. The woman looked surprised. “Well,” St Peter said “I did the best I could. But you sent me up so few building materials during your life on earth, what else could I build with what you made me?”
For this reason we are challenged by St Paul, in the same way these words exhorted Timothy 2,000 years ago “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called” (see 1 Tim 6, 11-16). Let us strive to do good while we still have the chance. Amen.
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