XXVI Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Amos 6:1a,4-7
Ps  146:7-10
1 Tm 6:11-16
Lk 16:19-31

Have you ever experienced a miracle in your life?  A miracle where you know that God had a hand in it; where something undeniably, unmistakably happened that was simply unexplainable and beyond our comprehension and reason.  Did you change your life and have a radical conversion?  And when I say a radical conversion, I mean like you did a complete 180, stopped sinning, and started a life of complete holiness and sanctity.  For a large majority of us faithful (with some exceptions in history), miracles only have the potential to cause a complete radical conversion. But chances are the faith will burn brightly, only to go out or back to smoldering again.  This is because the real heart of the faith is not in the miraculous or the “new shiny" thing that’s happening, but in the constancy of the practice of charity in faith.

The story we hear in today’s Gospel speaks of two men, a certain rich man and Lazarus.  Interestingly enough, the early Christian Fathers of the Church also noticed that Lazarus was named but the rich man was not.  St. Augustine said that God kept quiet about the rich man’s name because “his name was not written in heaven.”  (This is a situation where we would rather want our names to be mentioned in conversation!)  So Jesus kept quiet about the rich man’s but mentions Lazarus, whose name means “one who has been helped.”

The lavish opulent lifestyle of the rich man is described in the fine purple garments and linens that the rich man wore.  Though this was not a moral problem per se, the problem was in that there was a poor man lying at his front door covered with sores and starving.  The rich man had an opportunity to do something for Lazarus every time he walked out that front door.  It’s not like he didn’t know he was there, he was at his front door!!  And so dogs – considered unclean and dirty – were the only ones to give Lazarus any comfort.  What the dogs did, the rich man couldn’t even do.  And so they both died and their fortunes were now reversed – as was promised in Jesus’ preaching and all throughout the scriptures: that the lowly would be lifted up, the hungry would be fed.

What I find even more deplorable about this rich man is that even in the midst of his suffering, you can see how far gone he is from charity.  He’s suffering the flames of hell and what does he do?  He cries for LAZARUS to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue!  Wait… so he neglected Lazarus all his life and now he wants Lazarus to SERVE him?!  What contempt this rich man has!! St. Peter Chrysologus – an early Church Father - continues this theme, “The rich man’s ill will does not leave him… He does not ask to be led to Lazarus but wants Lazarus to be led to him.”  Let this be a lesson for us on how we live in this life: to prepare for the next!  If you continue in your contempt for others now, you will continue your contemptible behavior in the afterlife and contempt will be shown to you.  If you continue your self-centeredness, greediness, and selfishness now, you will continue to live in that torment of sinful habits later.

I think this parable has a “moral neutrality” to it and yet speaks volumes about morality.  The moral neutrality is that both parties did not do anything.  The rich man lived as a rich man did and the poor man lived as a poor man did.  There were no lies, no back-biting, no killing, or stealing.  Come to think of it, what commandment was broken here?  Our society only deals with “first world problems” and to preach this maxim of “do no harm”.  There is a danger to be complacent as is warned in the first reading from the prophet Amos: Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches.  But yet, I would hope that in our fundamental being – that of simply being a human person in the human race – we would go beyond what animals would do; and act with compassion and charity.  Whereas society only believes charity to be a novel – “oh how nice” – idea, for us as Christians charity is obligatory.  This is social justice: When you see trash you pick it up; when you see someone in danger you help them; when you see someone hungry you give them food; Thirsty? Give them drink; Homeless? Shelter them; Sick? Visit them.  Those who are well off have the moral obligation to help the poor carry the cross of poverty.  The poor carry the cross of poverty in the humility of allowing themselves to be helped and lifted up.  Notice that Lazarus’ suffering is not done with demanding that he be helped: not begrudgingly, not belligerently, and not with a sense of resentment or anger against others, but suffers with expectant faith and hope; and in his silence, waits for the Lord to show His love through his brother the rich man.

When your life is truly in shambles and in crisis, (i.e. not first world problems like your television does not match your living room furniture or the car dealership only had dark leather interior and not the nice beige that you wanted) when your life is in the very pit of desolation, remember that this suffering is purgative and a call for you to rely on God all the more.  If you stop and only look at your suffering, wallowing in it – it will corrupt you, it will change you, and bring you to a place filled with vengeance, anger, and resentment.  Whether it’s poverty, difficulty in marriage, children, work and finances, or any relationship, suffering is a means to an end and not an end in itself.  Look at the Cross and unite yourselves with Him to give you strength.  For Lazarus, he remained silent, suffered silently, and waited for charity, but did not grow bitter.  He waited for the change of heart from a rich man and was consoled in the promise of the eternal reward of heaven in the bosom of Abraham.  Remember that what you practice here on earth, will be what is received in heaven.  If you show mercy, mercy will be shown.

So was there a sign of remorse and outward growth in thinking with the rich man when he asks that Abraham go to his brothers?  St. Jerome answers in a stinging rebuke, “Your father is Abraham.  How can you say, Send him to my father’s house [to warn your brothers]? ...your father destroyed you.… [with your] five brothers: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.  These are the brothers to whom formerly you were enslaved.  Since they were the brothers you loved, you could not love your brother Lazarus.”

In St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he writes Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called…  In other translations, he says to “Fight the good fight.”  By our very baptism and members of the Body of Christ, we are all called to fight the good fight to lay hold of eternal life.  We must continue the struggle of living out our lives in holiness not only for ourselves but for those around us.

The rich man wanted Abraham to go and tell his brothers, but God knew that they would not listen because they have not listened to anyone in the past.  Let’s put it in today’s terms – if you didn’t listen to Pope John Paul II and all the Church’s teachings before him, and you didn’t listen to Pope Benedict XVI, you certainly aren’t going to listen to Pope Francis today.  No miracle, no incredible apparition will change your hearts if your hearts were not ready to be opened in the first place.   Don’t wait for some great experience to scare you straight!  The Christian faith cannot be injected in us.  It must be lived out faithfully as Catholic Christians every single day of our life.  Our lives are not about having that one miraculous experience that will instantly make us holy.  Rather it is our journey with God – our very life – it is about the constancy and stability of the practice of your faith.  Only when you are faithful in faith can you truly be a witness to the Resurrection and receive the promise of future glory with Him.