Rich and Poor

Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Dn 3: 31, 29, 30, 43, 42 All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgment, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.

Collect O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Amos 6:1.4-7; Psalm 145; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.' Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, '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.'" (Luke 16:19-31)

Rich and Poor Today's Gospel presents us with our Lord's famous parable of “a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:19-31). The message is clear: God’s judgment hangs over the one who refuses to give to the poor when he is in a position to do so. The rich man died and was buried, and in his torment in Hades, he saw Lazarus the poor man a long way off in the arms of Abraham. In his description of the Last Judgment in the 25th Chapter of St Matthew, Christ as Judge condemns to hell those who refused during life to help those in need. I was hungry and you never gave me to eat. Whatever you did to the least of these my brothers, you did to me, he will say to them. We are challenged by Christ’s parable today to ask ourselves, what is my attitude and my behaviour towards the poor person? Am I a little like the rich man of the parable? My salvation and the sanctification to which I am called, depend on the answer to this question. But our Lord’s story has implications well beyond the concern that an individual who has should have for an individual who has not. It also concerns the relationship that should exist between nations that are poor and those that are rich. The rich man of the story not only represents the rich individual, but also rich nations and whole groups of nations. Just as there was a terrible gap between the rich man in the story and the poor man Lazarus, so there is a terrible gap between rich and poor nations, due to unequal economic resources and capacity. The teaching of the parable applies to the life of the individual, and also to the world at large. It offers the key to international justice and solidarity, and thereby the key to peace in the world. Just as the rich man of the parable failed to live in true solidarity with the poor man Lazarus and utterly disregarded and neglected him, so too whole nations can fail to live in solidarity with needy nations.

We are all members of God’s family. We are all God’s children, and nations must keep this in mind just as individuals must. Our world conducts its affairs as if God is no more than the private persuasion of individuals and not the overarching Fact of the universe. This lack of a living conviction of the universal fatherhood of God constitutes a world-wide flaw in the life of nations. Indeed, it is one basic reason for poverty in the world. If nations were possessed of a living and agreed conviction that God is our common Father and that we are all brothers of one single family under him who is our Creator, the policy of nations would be shaped by a culture of solidarity. Let us also remember that the burden of poverty that oppresses whole nations is not just poverty of food or material aid. It also involves a poverty in structures and institutions. These structures can be channels of oppression that impede development. A poor African nation burdened with a huge debt which imposes a crippling interest rate has no chance to develop. The structure imposes poverty. Because of that pattern of debt and interest, the country continues year after year to be the poor man Lazarus of the Gospel, while the rich nations that do nothing about that debt continue to be the rich man who was condemned. The judgment of God hangs over the rich, and that judgment can take effect not only in the life to come, but in this world too. The Church teaches that rich nations have a grave moral responsibility towards the development of poor nations. Of course, this is a complex duty. Institutions created in the poor countries themselves can impoverish their own populations — such as the endemic corruption of the privileged. Now, while it is the competence of the Church’s pastors to give the Church’s general teaching and to insist on moral principles, in its practical detail the service of the poor in justice and charity is especially a task for the laity. A civilization of love has to be built, because the Creator of the world is love. It is especially the role of the laity to make the world more human, more just, more filled with solidarity, more filled with the spirit of Christ. The laity’s home is the world, and the laity’s field of work is the world. Their mission is to apply the parable of our Gospel today to the world in all its complexity and detail.

The question we could ask ourselves today is, do I care very much about these matters? What, concretely speaking, am I doing to promote justice and solidarity between the rich and poor at an individual level in my personal life, and, further, among the nations of the world? Am I even taking an interest in such matters? The poor are there at the gate, and the rich are not far from them. Where do I stand, and what am I doing? Lazarus was taken by the angels to Abraham. The rich man went to hell, not because he was rich, but because he did nothing about the poor man before him.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.2437-2442 (Justice and solidarity between nations)

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A Second Reflection on the Twenty Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time C-2:

Scripture today: Amos 6:1.4-7; Psalm 145; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

True Treasure The parable of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus in today’s gospel is a famous one. It is a principal resource for one of Pope John Paul II’s encyclicals. The rich man provided for his life here on earth, but stored nothing for his life hereafter, and so he lost everything in hell. Our parable today tells us how to ensure for life hereafter, a life that will last for eternity. The great fact before us in this life is death and the judgment that follows it. Our Lord’s parable calls us to justice and charity, and it teaches us that the thought of death and God’s judgment will help us to be just and charitable. I read once of a research project which concluded that confronting people with the fact that they will die can make them cling to their deepest moral values. That is exactly what the Old Testament book of Sirach advises: “In all you do remember the end of your life and you will never sin” (Sirach 7:36). Many forget what conscience intimates, that we shall have to render an account of everything we have done or failed to do for the poor. Jesus lived in poverty and ended his life in humiliation. But let us imagine an opposite possibility. What if God had willed Jesus his Son to live in wealth, just to show the wealthy how to use their wealth? Imagine if Jesus had been living in a palace as did the rich man of the parable, with Lazarus appealing for help at his door. What would Jesus have done for Lazarus? He would have helped him abundantly. Again, let us imagine a different but not unlikely scenario. What would have happened if a poor or sick person had presented himself at the doorway of the Holy Family in Nazareth? We are not told, but the answer is evident. He would have been helped. Jesus who was rich in glory from all eternity made himself poor for us, so that we might be rich in glory. Despite this example and despite the grace we have to imitate it, we all too readily neglect those who are poor. We must take to heart our Lord’s warning in the Gospel: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Riches constitute a danger. Greed is the mark of the rich man in the parable, and the rich man went to hell. He had plenty, but he was still greedy, and St Paul writes that greed is like worshipping a false god. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” our Lord said, “for theirs is the kingdom of God.” In him is present the Kingdom of God in its fulness. He himself is the exemplar of the beatitude that he preached. There have been many who have followed Christ in poverty of spirit — and in material poverty too. St Francis of Assisi was poor in spirit, wanting nothing, giving up everything, and loving everything and everyone as a result. He loved God, he loved Christ, he loved humanity, he loved nature, and he loved poverty for Christ’s sake. He regarded poverty as a most precious jewel. Unlike the rich man of the parable, he clung to nothing. Whatever he had, he gave. He was like Christ who did not cling to his glory as God but gave it all up to enrich us. The parable of Christ teaches us how to use the wealth we have. In the book of Genesis, Cain asks, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Our Lord gives the answer in our parable, Yes! Our eternal destiny hinges on the way serve as our brother’s keeper, on how we love, and indeed on the way we use our money. If we love money, it will become our master, and we its slave. Money is to be used to serve in a way that will honour God, and help us gain friends who will welcome us hereafter. The rich man in our Lord’s parable was condemned because he dishonoured God by failing to honour his poor brother, Lazarus. Lazarus is everywhere in our life. We will find him at our doors every time we watch the television, in the movement of millions of refugees and in the seething arena of war and natural disaster. Our conscience, and both Christ and his Church, will give us no true rest until we take these things to heart and live them. So then, are we a little like the rich man in the parable? Perhaps we are very much like him. Let us examine our consciences, and ask for the grace to desire to live in the spirit of poverty, like our Lord — not necessarily in actual physical poverty, but with our spirit detached from this world’s goods. If we are governed by a love for money and possessions, we shall neglect Lazarus at our doorstep.

Let us take our daily cue from God our heavenly Father who unhesitatingly shared with us his own beloved Son. Let us take our cue from Christ his Son who did not cling to his riches but became poor for our sake. In receiving him we received every heavenly blessing. In him we are made rich with the true riches. Let us pray for the grace today to seek the wealth that God wants to give us. It comes from being in him and from being like him in our attitude to those in need.

(E.J.Tyler)

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