Amos speaks to the wealthy people in Zion close to the mountains of Samaria, who feel secure with their wealth and riches.
They spend their time in comfort sprawled on their divans, wining and dining in luxury. “Woe to you” he warns them, “your music and revelry will be reduced to silence and sorrow.” Amos is the prophet of social justice and he chastises those who enjoy themselves at the expense of the poor. A prophet in spite of himself, he slashes at the wealthy families of the northern kingdom. Their indifference to the miseries of the poor and their insensitivities to the ruin of the northern kingdom will be punished by exile. Amos points to the shallowness, of comfort and security provided by wealth.Caring and sharing with the poor
Dr. Samuel Johnson was a great lexicographer, writer, critic
and conversationalist. He was the first one to make an attempt to write the
English Dictionary. William Barclay gives this account of his kindness and
generosity. “Surely one of the loveliest pictures in literary history is the
picture of Johnson, in his own days of poverty, coming home in the small hours
of the morning, as he walked along the Strand, slipping pennies into the hands
of waifs and strays who were sleeping in the doorways because they had nowhere
else to go.” When someone asked him how he could bear to have his house filled
with ‘necessitous and undeserving people’, Johnson answered, “If I did not
assist them no one else would, and they must not be lost for want.” Dr. Johnson
cared and was concerned about the beggars and the strays that flocked to him. John
Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’
In today’s Gospel Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a poor man. The rich
man dresses magnificently and feasts lavishly every day. The rich man is not
only rich in clothes and food but is also rich in privileges and in the freedom
he enjoys from all that besets the poor. His privilege conceals from him his
responsibilities; it blinds him to the man who lies at his own gate. He is not
a bad man but one who is wrapped up in his own world, insensitive to the needs
of others around him. In contrast to the rich man there is Lazarus, who is
clothed in rags and covered with sores. Lying at the gate, he has no food. He
does not beg for food, but hopes for scraps that fall from the master’s table,
which the dogs fight for. He is in need, but whom no one cares for. He dies at
the gate of the rich man and is buried. The next scene is after-life where
there is a reversal of fortunes. Lazarus is now well dressed and enjoying the
heavenly banquet. In contrast the rich man is in torment and in flames. This
agony creates awareness and compassion for his brothers and he hopes Lazarus
can return to earth to warn them. His regret and compassion are not enough and
no warning can be given to his brothers. They have the teachings of scripture
to warn them and the poor at their gates could be their salvation. Like the
brothers on earth, we have the scripture to warn us of the dangers of riches
and overindulgence, and we have Lazarus –the poor at our gates. We also have
someone who did rise from the dead who constantly reminds us of the way to
heaven. That is more than enough.
Vanity of Wealth
The famous Greek law-giver Solon once went on a vacation to the
town of Lydia, in what is now the country of Turkey. It boasted to have the
richest king in the world, named Croesus. Solon, the great philosopher, -quite
detached from all possessions of this world –decided to visit the man who
seemed to find all his happiness in wealth. As soon as he got to the place,
Croesus decided to show his vaults. “What do you think of that?” he demanded
triumphantly. But Solon kept silent and so the king went on, “Who do you think
is the happiest man in the world?” The philosopher thought for a moment, and
then named two obscure Greeks whose names Croesus had never heard before. The
king was angry of being cheated out of a compliment, so he asked sharply for an
explanation. Solon answered, “No man, my friend, can be considered really happy
whose heart is wedded to material things. They pass and their owner becomes a
widow. To the widows, belongs grief. Or to the man himself who passes away, and
can take none of his gold with him. Again it is only grief.” Frank Michalic
in ‘1000 stories you can use’
Schweitzer and the Poor
Albert Schweitzer has been acclaimed the world over as a
multiple genius. He was an outstanding philosopher, a reputable theologian, a
respected historian, a concert soloist, and a missionary doctor. But the most
remarkable thing about him was his deep Christian faith. It was a faith that
influenced even the smallest details of his life. At the age of 21, Schweitzer
promised himself that he would enjoy art and science until he was 30. Then he
would devote the rest of his life to working among the needy in some direct
form of service. And so on his 30th birthday, on October 13, 1905, he dropped
several letters into a Paris mailbox. They were to his parents and closest
friends, informing them that he was going to enroll in the university to get a
degree in medicine. After that he was going to Africa to work among the poor as
a missionary doctor. The letters created a stir and many berated him and
questioned his decision. Nevertheless, Schweitzer stuck to his guns. At the age
of 38, he became a full-fledged medical doctor. At the age of 43, he left for
Africa where he opened a hospital at the edge of the jungle in what was then
called Equatorial Africa. He died there in 1965 at the age of 90. What
motivated Albert Schweitzer to turn his back on worldly fame and wealth and
work among the poorest of the poor in Africa? He said that one of the
influences was his meditation on today’s gospel about the rich man and Lazarus.
He said: “It struck me as incomprehensible that I should be allowed to live
such a happy life, while so many people around me were wresting
with…..suffering.” Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’
Do you care?
A man came home from work late and tired. He found his
five-year-old son waiting for him at the door. ‘Daddy, may I ask you a
question?’ ‘Yeah, sure, what is it?’ replied the dad. ‘Daddy, how much money do
you make an hour?’ ‘That’s none of your business! What makes you ask such a
thing?’ the man said angrily. ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do
you make an hour?’ pleaded the little boy. ‘If you must know, I make $20 an
hour.’ ‘Oh,’ the little boy sighed, head bowed. Looking up, he asked ‘Daddy,
may I borrow $10 please?’ The father was furious. ‘If the only reason you want
to know how much I earn an hour is just so you can buy a silly toy or some
other nonsense, then you can march yourself straight to your room, and go to
bed. I work hard hours every day, and don’t have time for such childish games.’
The little boy went quietly to his room, and closed the door. The man sat down,
and began to get even more annoyed about his son’s attitude. How dare he ask
such questions, just to get some money? After an hour or so he calmed down, and
began to think that he may have been a little hard on his son. Perhaps there
was something his son really needed to buy with that $10, and he really didn’t
ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room,
and opened it. ‘Are you asleep, son?’ he asked. “No, daddy, I’m awake,’ replied
the boy. ‘I’ve been thinking. Maybe I was too hard on you earlier,’ said the
man. ‘I’ve had a long day, and I took annoyance out on you. Here’s that $10 you
asked for.’ The little lad sat straight upright, beaming. ‘Oh, thank you,
daddy!’ he exclaimed. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more
crumpled notes. The man, seeing the boy already has money, began to get angry
again. The boy slowly counted out his money, and then he looked up at his dad.
‘Why did you want more money if you already had some?’ the father demanded.
‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the boy replied. ‘Daddy, I want
to give you this $20, if you’ll spend an hour with me.’
Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth!’
*****
Background:
Today’s story is just that, a story. Jesus is not endorsing
any particular theology of the hereafter. He is rather making the point that we
should seize all the opportunities for charity and responsibility which come
along in our life.
We only go around once as the old beer add used to tell us.
Hence we must not so much as grab the glistening beer bottle as pursue all the
opportunities to do good that we encounter.
Story:
Once upon a time two girls joined Molly Whoopy’s girl’s
basketball team at Mother Mary High School. They were very good players, but
they didn’t like to practice hard. One of them became a starter and the other
sixth person. During games they played real hard, but because they didn’t
practice much and didn’t listen to the coach’s talks, and made all kinds of
mistakes. The coach goes to Molly, like, maybe we should throw them off the
team. Sondra and Sonia, for that were their names, began to campaign to stay on
the team. They were cute and funny and charming. They talked to every girl on
the team, they tried to charm the coach, they had a party for the team, they
gave the other players presents, they even showed up on time for practice,
though they didn’t practice very hard. They took Molly to the ice cream store
at the Mall and bought her a double chocolate malt with whipped cream because
they knew Molly was a chocolate freak.
Finally, they’re like, “Molly, you know, we’ve been real
dweebs, you know, but we, you know really want to stay on the team.” But
Molly’s like, “if you had put in as much time and energy on practice as you
have on charming everyone, then we’d be in first place. I’m like telling the
coach you should be 11th and 12th on the team and earn your way back up. They
weren’t very happy with that decision because, you know there are only ten
players on team. But Molly goes to her boyfriend Joe, “Why didn’t they work at
basketball.” And Joe’s like “it’s easier to buy you a double chocolate malt.”
And Molly’s like WELL, it didn’t do them any good.”
2. Connections:
The gospel of poverty
Once there was a priest sent to a poor village in the
mountains. On his first day there, he gathered up all the bread and
blankets and medicine he could and began to visit his parishioners.
At the first hut, a mother was caring for a child sick with
a fever. Father watched as she nestled the child in her arms, wiping the
boy’s face with a wet rag. For hours she held the child, patiently wiping
his brow, whispering a little song as he slept. Father blessed the child
and his mother, left some medicine, and went on his way.
At another house, Father arrived in time for supper.
The mother had prepared a weak soup of water and a few vegetables she had
begged that day. She happily welcomed the priest and offered him a small
cup. As he took the soup and joined the other members of the family, he
did not see a cup or bowl for the mother. He blessed the family, left
some bread, and moved on.
As he arrived at the last house, a cold rain began to
fall. An elderly couple lived there. The small fire offered little
warmth from the damp cold. The old woman was lying on a mat, trying to
sleep. She grasped the threadbare blanket around her to keep warm.
Her husband had taken off his own tattered coat and tucked it around her, then
sat beside her and rubbed her back to help keep her warm. Father blessed
them both, left blankets for them, and returned to his own small house.
That night, having given away all of the food and medicine
and blankets he had, the priest sat down and looked at his now empty cupboard
and realized that he had been the one who was blessed that day.
Jesus calls his disciples not only to care for the poor but
also to learn from the poor. The Lazaruses in our
midst can teach us a great deal about compassion and generosity; in their
poverty, they can show us how to possess real treasures of life; in their
humility, they reflect the dignity of being made in the very image of
God. The rich man of today’s Gospel and the “worthless rich” excoriated
by the prophet Amos (today’s first reading) are too self-absorbed and satisfied
to grasp the wisdom that the poor have to teach them: that the many blessings
they -- and we -- have been given by God are a responsibility and a means to
realize God’s dream of a just and merciful community of humanity.
**********
3. Dr. Albert
Schweitzer
What parable would make a man with three doctoral degrees
(one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy) leave civilization with
all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa?
What parable could induce a man, who was recognized as one of the best concert
organists in all of Europe, go to a place where there were no organs to play.
What parable would so intensely motivate a man that he would give up a teaching
position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who were so deprived
that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages for all
practical purposes. The man who I am talking about, of course, is Dr. Albert
Schweitzer. And the single parable that so radically altered his life,
according to him, was our text for this morning. It was the parable of the Rich
Man and Lazarus.
The Rich Man and Lazarus were neighbors, you know. They saw
each other every day. Oh, not socially you understand, but there was contact.
Every day the Rich Man saw this beggar at his front gate. Who were these
men?
We shall call the Rich Man Dives [pronounced 'Dive-ees':
it's Latin for "Rich Man" as he has been called for centuries] Dives
would have felt very comfortable living in our present time. He was a
progressive kind of a guy. He was self-indulgent and this is the age of
self-indulgency. The contrasting life-styles of these two men is so obvious
that you can't miss it. Dives was a connoisseur, a lover of the arts, one who
knows and appreciates fine living, four star restaurants.
We are told in vs. 19 that he habitually dressed in purple.
Purple was known as the color of royalty because it was the most expensive dye
in the ancient world. Only the upper echelon and the high priest could afford
it. We are also told that his undergarments were made of fine linen. Linen, the
lifestyle of the rich and famous.
The other man in the story is Lazarus. How can we describe
Lazarus? Lararus is homeless. We are told in vs. 20 that he was a cripple.
Lazarus barely made it from day to day, living off the leftovers thrown to him
by Dives as he daily passed him. He is just a survivor, that's all you can say
of him...
4. We are all one
family
We are all about family. The truth is, the problem is, we
are all about OTHER people's families.
The most popular show on television today? "Duck
Dynasty." After that there are the programs about "The
Kardashians," "Housewives," of various zip codes, and
"Hoarders." We like to spy-glass at the inner-workings of family
relationships that we can keep at arm's length - or TIVO for a later, more
convenient time.
Our own family relationships cannot be put on hold. Whether
it is a teething infant, a tantrum-tossing toddler, a hormone-hosed teenager, a
suffering spouse, or an aging parent - we have to deal with our family in
"real time" not unreal reality tv time. Those with whom we have a
true connection don't just get our attention when it is convenient. That is
what makes us a "family."
Jesus' parable in this week's gospel text is almost too
familiar for our ears to hear the real challenge that it offers. It is easy to
read about a rich, self-absorbed, politically important man who is so involved
in his own life, so busy orchestrating his own pleasures and perks, that he
completely ignores the plight of Lazarus, a man who falls inside his gate, but
far outside his pay-grade.
But that is not the shock-treatment that Jesus' parable is
administering. The Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking would not be surprised
that a wealthy man who totally rejected laws of alms-giving and care for the
poor ended up in the hot-house of Hades. The righteous minded, Torah toeing,
jot-and-tittle crossing Pharisees would have seen that as completely
acceptable. So Jesus does NOT portray some ultimate "bad guy" tossing
poor Lazarus to the curb. Instead Jesus offered a picture of first-century,
socially acceptable compassion, extended by this incredibly wealthy man, to an
incredibly unacceptable person...
5. The Violence of
Apathy
This parable targets the violence of apathy and neglect
which is widening the chasm between rich and poor. The trouble is that even
such abstractions become easy to live with. We need some firsthand experience
of encountering the real people whom we will then not be able to dismiss as
relative statistics. And if that cannot be first hand, we need to help people
engage in active imagination of what it really means to be poor, to be a
refugee, to be caught on the wrong side of the chasms which vested interests
maintain. William Loader, First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages from the
Lectionary
The Trouble with Generalization
Whenever we generalize people -- the poor, the rich,
the elderly, teenagers, the clergy, the laity, etc., we dehumanize them. I was
visiting a large church when I heard one of the members state that he didn't
like women pastors. This surprised me. I asked him, "What about
Sally?" Sally was one of the three clergy at the church. "Oh, Sally...she's
different!" was the reply. This female clergy had a name -- and with that,
a relationship with this member. That, I think, was the difference.
We may be tempted to generalize the rich -- since so few of us belong to that
category. The rich man is not named, but he is also not condemned for being
rich, but for his indifference and uncaring attitude towards poor Lazarus right
outside his door. Remember that Abraham was wealthy, and he isn't in the place
of torment. Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes
7. Who Have We Been
Trampling?
There is an ancient story about a botanist who was studying
the heather bell found in the highlands of Scotland. While looking through his
microscope at this beautiful flower, he was approached by a shepherd who asked
what he was doing. Rather than trying to explain, the botanist invited the
shepherd to peer through his microscope and observe for himself. When the
shepherd saw the wonder of the flower, he exclaimed, "My God, and I have
been tramping on them all my life!"
Is that the word of warning we need? Wake up! Pay attention!
Look around you. You may be tramping on the heart of someone nearby. Who is the
Lazarus at your gate? King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com.
The Torment of the Mature
"The torment of the dead is that they cannot warn the
living, just as it is the torment of the mature that the erring young will not
listen to them."
Dr. Helmut Thielicke
9. The Stopped Up Dam
There was a beautiful lake that lost its zesty freshness.
The water formerly had been clear. It was alluring to animals and people alike.
But it became covered with a green scum. The farm animals became ill from
drinking the water. Finally someone came by the lake who understood the
problem. Debris collecting from the hard spring rains had stopped up the dam
and prevented the free flow of water, not into the lake, but out of the lake.
The spillway was cleared, and soon the lake was fresh and clean again. The flow
in and out was necessary to keep the water pure!
Doesn't the same principle apply to you and me as human
beings? The blessings of life flow to you and me, but we fail to realize that
most of these blessings are not meant just to flow to us, but through us, for
the good of others around us, especially for those in need.
Richard W. Patt, All Stirred Up, CSS Publishing
______________________
He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a
benefit when he dies. Tertullian
______________________
10. Drowsy Living
There is a sign series on the West Virginia Turnpike that
says, "Driving while drowsy can put you to sleep - permanently."
Drowsy, uncaring living can put us to sleep - permanently. That kind of person,
Jesus says, is separating himself from God until it becomes permanent, by
digging a chasm between himself and heaven that even the love of God cannot
bridge.
Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, CSS Publishing
Company
______________________
11. Habituation
A noisy elevated train used to run along Third Avenue in New
York City. After it was torn down, "many people in the neighborhood began
to call the police quite late to report something strange occurring "
unusual noises, suspected thieves or burglars. . . . The police determined that
these calls took place at about the time the former late-night train would have
passed these people's houses. What they were hearing' was the absence of the
familiar noise of the train." They had grown habituated to this particular
noise. Now they would have to become habituated to its absence. Habituation.
Growing so accustomed to something that we no longer even realize it is there.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
____________________________
12. The Only Thing You Have
Dr. Leo Buscalgia tells of an experience he had in Cambodia
years ago. He noticed that during monsoon season the people's way of life
changed. The great rains washed away their houses, so the people lived on great
communal rafts, several families together. Dr. Buscalgia writes: "I went
down there on a bicycle and there they were. I thought I'd help these people
move and become part of their community. The Frenchwoman whom I was talking with
just laughed. `What do they have to move?' she asked. `Nature has taught them
the only thing they have is from the top of their head to the bottom of their
feet. Themselves, not things. They can't collect things because every year the
monsoon comes.'"
******
Fr. Tony Kadavil:
"America's Mansions." There was a television show,
America's Mansions, featuring homes of the extremely rich in the U. S. It
featured the Vanderbilt estate in Hyde Park, New York constructed by a wealthy
industrialist of the nineteenth century. It is a fifty-four room home, with a
breathtaking view of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains in the
distance. Another feature was the home of Bill Gates the richest man in the
world. Its building cost was over $53 million. It is a fifty-four room
house: a 66,000 square foot complex with seven bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, six
fireplaces and an 11,500 square-foot inner sanctum for privacy. The financier
Nelson Peltz’s mansion on his waterfront estate in Florida is worth $75
million. The original price of the Bel-Air Mansion owned by Iris Cantor, the
widow of Gerald Cantor, was $60 million. (http://www.forbes.com). We find
it hard to imagine living in such luxury. But neither can we imagine the
poverty found around the world. Here is the report of the United Nations
Human Development Commission. "The richest fifth [20 percent] of the
world's people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services, while the poorest
fifth [20 percent] consumes just 1.3 percent.” The three richest people in the
world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48
least developed countries. "Americans spend $8 billion a year on
cosmetics--$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide
basic education for everyone in the world.” Each day over 700 million people do
not get enough to eat. Each year twelve million children below the age of five
starve to death in a world that produces enough food for everyone to eat over 4
pounds of food a day. 250,000 go blind each year because of vitamin deficiency
in their diet. In Latin America, forty million abandoned children live on the
streets. Even in the United States about three million people are homeless at
least a part of each year. In today’s Gospel, Jesus suggests a remedy: share your
blessings generously with others instead of using them selfishly and thus
making yourselves eligible for eternal punishment.
---------
Sharing is the criterion of Last Judgment: Matthew (25: 31ff), tells us that
all six questions to be asked of each one of us by Jesus when He comes in glory
as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings from Him
(food, drink, home, mercy and compassion), with others. Here is the
message given by Pope John Paul II in Yankee Stadium, New York during his first
visit to the U.S., October 2, 1979. "The parable of the rich man and
Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience.
Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need – openness from the
rich, the affluent, the economically advanced; openness to the poor, the
underdeveloped and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more
than benign attention, more than token actions or halfhearted efforts that
leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so. ...We cannot stand idly
by, enjoying our own riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the
20th century stands at our doors.”
Half to doctors and half to lawyers:
Cecil John Rhodes was an enormously wealthy man. He was
an English-born businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa. He was the founder of the diamond
company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough
diamonds and at one time marketed 90%. An ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, he was the founder of the state of Rhodesia to perpetuate his
name. One day a newspaperman asked him, "You must be very
happy." Rhodes replied, "Happy! No! I spent my life amassing a
fortune only to find that I have spent half of it on doctors to keep me out of
the grave, and the other half on lawyers to keep me out of jail!" He
reminds us of the rich man in Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel.
"The Fortunate Fifth" versus the
"Forgotten Four-Fifths".
America is increasingly becoming a caste society. We call it
a two-coupon society - with severe social separation of the two coupon
clippers. The top 10 or 20 percent of the population (50 million), clip their
stock coupons and treasury certificates. Their kids go to private schools,
while the public schools are deteriorating. Their mail goes Federal Express
while the postal service is deteriorating. Their bottled water is delivered to the
door while the water system becomes more and more contaminated. The rest of
Americans, 200 million, are standing at supermarket check-outs, the poorest
members clipping food stamps, while the dwindling middle-class members clip
food coupons. Doug Henwood calls this "The Fortunate Fifth" versus
the "Forgotten Four-Fifths." Neither group is able to see reality as
it is – one group has its head in the clouds, arched in the air above the pain
and poverty, while the other has its head is in the sand and dirt, enmeshed in
the grind and grime of eking out a living in a service economy and unable to
lift up its heads for hope or help or anything much else beyond survival.
Whitehead groups the poor class into the "traditional poor"
(primarily holding part-time service occupations with no benefits), and a
frighteningly expanding new group of the poorer than poor known widely as
"the underclass" - two million-plus Americans who are permanently
homeless and psychologically hopeless, without voice or face in popular culture.
New York University's Lawrence M. Mead shows how many of the ghetto poor are
"seceding from mainstream institutions - breaking the law, dropping out of
school, not learning English, declining to work." This "internal
secession" he deems as threatening to the nation as the South's secession
in 1861. [See Mead, "The Democrats' Dilemma," Commentary 93
(January 1992), 44.] Like the rich man and Lazarus in today’s Gospel parable,
these two groups are separated by a chasm predetermined by their economic status.
*****
More from Fr. Tony
3: “The Fortunate Fifth” versus the “Forgotten Four-Fifths“. America is increasingly becoming a caste society. We call it a two-coupon society – with severe social separation of the two sets of coupon clippers. The top 10 or 20 percent of the population (50 million), clip their stock coupons and treasury certificates. Their kids go to private schools, while the public schools are deteriorating. Their mail goes Federal Express while the postal service is deteriorating. Their bottled water is delivered to the door while the water system becomes more and more contaminated. The rest of Americans, 200 million, are standing at supermarket check-outs, the poorest members clipping food stamps, while the dwindling middle-class members clip food coupons. Doug Henwood calls this division, “The Fortunate Fifth” versus the “Forgotten Four-Fifths.” Neither group is able to see reality as it is – one group has its head in the clouds, arched in the air above the pain and poverty, while the other has its head is in the sand and dirt, enmeshed in the grind and grime of eking out a living in a service economy and unable to lift up its head for hope or help or anything much else beyond survival. Whitehead groups the poor class into the “traditional poor” (primarily holding part-time service occupations with no benefits), and a frighteningly expanding new group of the poorer than poor known widely as “the underclass” – two million-plus Americans who are permanently homeless and psychologically hopeless, without voice or face in popular culture. New York University’s Lawrence M. Mead shows how many of the ghetto poor are “seceding from mainstream institutions – breaking the law, dropping out of school, not learning English, declining to work.” This “internal secession” he deems as threatening to the nation as the South’s secession in 1861. [See Mead, “The Democrats’ Dilemma,” Commentary 93 (January 1992), 44.] Like the rich man and Lazarus in today’s Gospel parable, these two groups are separated by a chasm predetermined by their economic status.
4) “You’ll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and ‘gofer’ to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet. Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: “If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you?” Mother Teresa looked at him. “You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea?” she asked. “Yes,” he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You’ll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. (Quoted by Fr. Lakra).
5) “Oh Lord, hit him again!” The parish
church was badly in need of repair. So, the pastor called a special meeting
inside the Church to raise funds. At the assembly the pastor explained the need
of an emergency fund for plastering the roof and supporting pillars and the
other areas which needed repair. He invited pledge of contributions. After a
brief pause Mr. Murphy, the richest man in the parish, volunteered he would
give 50 dollars. Just as he sat down, a hunk of plaster fell from the ceiling
on the head of Mr. Murphy. He jumped up looking terribly startled and corrected
himself: “I meant to say 500 dollars.” The congregation stood silent and
stunned. Then a lone voice cried out: “Oh Lord, hit him again!”
7) Drowsy Living: There is a sign series on the West Virginia Turnpike that says, “Driving while drowsy can put you to sleep – permanently.” Drowsy, uncaring living can put us to sleep – permanently. That kind of person, Jesus says, is separating himself from God until it becomes permanent, digging a chasm between himself and Heaven that even the love of God cannot bridge. (Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, CSS Publishing Company).
8) Grab as many bottles as you can. The old beer adage which I am sure you all remember and follow went like this: You only go around once, so grab as many bottles as you can. We do go around only once in this world, as you may have noticed, or perhaps not, and we should grab every opportunity to do good that we encounter.
9) “It’s my dad’s.” Harry and his neighbor Joe
often borrowed things from each other. One day, Harry asked
to borrow Joe’s ladder. Joe said, “Sorry Harry, I’ve lent it to my
son.” Remembering a saying that his grandma often used to tell him, Harry said,
“Joe, you should never lend anything to your children because you’ll never get
it back.” Joe replied, laughing, “Don’t worry, it’s not my ladder. It’s my
dad’s.”
1) “America’s Mansions.” There was a television show, America’s Mansions, featuring homes of the extremely rich in the U. S. It featured the Vanderbilt estate in Hyde Park, New York constructed by a wealthy industrialist of the nineteenth century. It is a fifty-four-room home, with a breath-taking view of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains in the distance. Another feature was the home of Bill Gates the richest man in the world. Its building cost was over $53 million. It is a fifty-four-room house: a 66,000 square foot complex with seven bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, six fireplaces and an 11,500 square-foot inner sanctum for privacy. The financier Nelson Peltz’s mansion on his waterfront estate in Florida is worth $75 million. The original price of the Bel-Air Mansion owned by Iris Cantor, the widow of Gerald Cantor, was $60 million. (http://www.forbes.com). We find it hard to imagine living in such luxury. But neither can we imagine the poverty found around the world. Here is the report of the United Nations Human Development Commission. “The richest fifth [20 percent] of the world’s people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services, while the poorest fifth [20 percent] consumes just 1.3 percent.” The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries. “Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics–$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world.” Each day over 700 million people do not get enough to eat. Each year twelve million children below the age of five starve to death in a world that produces enough food for everyone to eat over 4 pounds of food a day. 250,000 go blind each year because of vitamin deficiency in their diet. In Latin America, forty million abandoned children live on the streets. Even in the United States about three million people are homeless at least a part of each year. In today’s Gospel, Jesus suggests a remedy: share your blessings generously with others instead of using them selfishly — thus making yourselves eligible for eternal punishment.
2) Here is the image of God covered with rags! There is a Jewish story about Rabbi Joshua, the son of Levi, and his trip to Rome in the third century. He was astounded to see the magnificence of the buildings, especially the care lavished upon statues which were covered with exquisite cloths to protect them from the summer heat. As he was admiring the beauty of Roman art, a beggar plucked at his sleeve and asked for a crust of bread. The sage looked at the statues and turning to the beggar in rags said: “Here are statues of stones covered with expensive clothes, and here is a man created in the image and likeness of God covered with rags. A civilization that pays more attention to statues than to human beings shall surely perish.” Telling the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us the same question: What are our statues, our priorities? The poor and powerless, the illiterate, the homeless, the ill?
3) “A diet plan I can recommend!”: Guideposts magazine, several years ago, published an account of how a young woman named Mary Bowers MacKorell found an effective weight loss plan. Mary’s doctor told her she needed to lose several pounds. She went through many diet plans, counted her calories and used dietetic foods, but found she just didn’t have the necessary willpower. One day she received a pamphlet about needy people in her mail. Pictured on the pamphlet was a dark-skinned, scrawny, near skeletal boy. MacKorell says that she experienced a kind of spiritual shock treatment at the sight of the starving child. She began to think more seriously about how she could take off unnecessary pounds and put them where they were needed on this starving child. “At last I had a spiritual motivation for reducing,” she said. “Under God’s guidance I formed a practical plan and carried it through. For a period of ten days I ate only two meals a day, skipping lunch. Each day at the lunch hour I sipped a sugar free drink and looked at the picture of the starving boy. I prayed to God to bless him and let my extra weight be transferred to him or someone like him. For each lunch I omitted I placed in a box for missions one dollar saved. Now there is a diet plan I can recommend.” The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in today’s Gospel gives all of us a similar diet plan.
4) “I have so much, and you have so little.” There is a story about when David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan Bank was traveling through South America. A group of bank officials of the government of Uruguay invited him for lunch, hoping for a sizable loan. The affair was held at a club that was famous locally for its magnificent cold appetizer buffet. Rockefeller passed through the line first and, thinking this to be the entire meal, served himself generously. Once seated, he noticed that others had taken skimpier portions. “I have so much,” he said to the president of Banco Central, “and you have so little….” “I am glad you mentioned that Mr. Rockefeller” interrupted his host, “because that is exactly what we want to talk to you about!”* You and I are not Rockefellers, but we, too, have so many blessings and talents from God. Others have so little. The 5 billionth baby was born on planet earth recently. Chances are very, very high that baby will live all his or her life poorly clothed, poorly housed, poorly fed. That is because most of the babies born today are in the so-called third world where poverty is the rule and not the exception. Hence, today’s Gospel parable challenges us to share our blessings with the less fortunate ones in our society.
5) Hell full of Lutherans: There is a town in Norway named Hell. A couple of Lutherans from the U.S. visited Norway some time back and then sent a postcard to their pastor back home. He read it at a meeting of the parish council. “Dear Father,” it said, “We passed through Hell today, and we’re concerned. Almost everyone here seems to be Lutheran.” [Leonard R.N. Ashley, The Amazing World of Superstition . . . (New York: Bell Publishing Co., 1988).] In today’s Gospel Jesus reminds us that Hell is a realty, and it is meant for selfish people.
6) “He doesn’t believe in Hell.” You may have
heard about a young woman about to get married who said to her mother, “I can’t
marry him, mother. He’ is an atheist and he doesn’t believe there is a Hell.”
Her mother responded, “That’s all right, dear! Marry him, and between the two
of us I am sure we can convince him.”
9) Caring and sharing with the poor: Dr. Samuel Johnson was a great lexicographer, writer, critic and conversationalist. He was the first one to make an attempt to write an English Dictionary. William Barclay gives this account of his kindness and generosity. “Surely one of the loveliest pictures in literary history is the picture of Johnson, in his own days of poverty, coming home in the small hours of the morning, and as he walked along the Strand, slipping pennies into the hands of waifs and strays who were sleeping in the doorways because they had nowhere else to go. When someone asked him how he could bear to have his house filled with ‘necessitous and undeserving people,’ Johnson answered, “If I did not assist them no one else would, and they must not be lost for want.” Dr. Johnson cared and was concerned about the beggars and the strays that flocked to him. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
10) Dear Abby: The Dear Abby column once received a letter from a 15-year-old girl which read as follows: Dear Abby, “Happiness is not having your parents scold you if you come home late, having your own bedroom, and getting the telephone call you’ve been hoping for. Happiness is belonging to a popular group, being dressed as well as anybody, and having a lot of spending money. Happiness is something I don’t have! 15 and Unhappy.” Shortly after the letter was published, Dear Abby received a reply from 13-year-old girl who wrote: Dear Abby: “Happiness is being able to walk and talk, to see and hear. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all four things and still says she isn’t happy. I can talk, I can see, I can hear. But I can’t walk! 13 and Happy.” These letters reflect two different points of view on happiness. Today’s Gospel parable does the same. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
11) Vanity of Wealth: The famous Greek law-giver
Solon once went on a vacation to the town of Lydia, now in Turkey. It boasted
the richest king in the world, named Croesus. Solon, the great philosopher, –
quite detached from all possessions of this world – decided to visit the man
who seemed to find all his happiness in wealth. As soon as he got to the place,
Croesus decided to show his vaults. “What do you think of that?” he demanded
triumphantly. But Solon kept silent and so the king went on, “Who do you think
is the happiest man in the world? The philosopher thought for a moment, and
then named two obscure Greeks whose names Croesus had never heard before. The
king was angered because he had been cheated out of a compliment, so he asked
sharply for an explanation. Solon answered, “No man can be considered really
happy whose heart is wedded to material things. They pass and their owner
becomes a widow. To widows belongs grief. Nor can the man himself who passes
away and can take none of his gold with him. Again, it is only grief.” (Frank
Michalic in 1000 Stories You Can Use; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
14) Near death experiences: On January 18, 1989, around 11:45 a.m., thirty-nine-year-old Larry Donald Piper’s Ford Escort collided head-on with a semi-truck. EMTs arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced him dead at the scene. Unconscious in the wrecked vehicle, Piper claims to have spent ninety minutes at the entrance to heaven, seeing deceased loved ones, hearing celestial music, and walking toward heaven’s gate. Before entering, however, God sent him back. Piper’s book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, which recounts his near-death experience, remained on the New York Times best-seller list for more than five years and has sold over six million copies. Even more recently, in the 2010 New York Times best-selling book, Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo relates the near-death experience of his then-three-year-old son, Colton. The book recounts Colton’s journey to Heaven, where he personally met Jesus riding a rainbow-colored horse and sat in Jesus’ lap when angels sang songs to him. Burpo’s book has since sold over 10 million copies and was adapted into a feature film, earning over $100 million at the box office. Other near-death-experiences are recorded in books like 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Weise (2006), The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven written by Kevin Malarkey (2010), and Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander (2012). While I think the subjective experiences of near-deathers do little to prove their claims, the sales record of books such as these certainly proves one thing—our culture is curious, even obsessed, about the afterlife. We want to know what happens after death. What will we see? What will we feel? Does Jesus really have brown hair, blue eyes, and a rainbow-colored horse!? Rather than relying on the notoriously unreliable experiences of others, Christians ought to rely on Scripture. The Bible tells us, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). (Rev Scott Bayles)
