TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY OF YEAR "C"

                                            TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY OF YEAR "C

 (Luke 16, 19 – 21)    

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus ("God helps") is actually an old Egyptian story adapted by the sacred writer. It seems to be the usually "rich man poor man" story. Yes, there are the usual elements: the rich man dressed in purple, wining and dining. The poor man dressed in his sores, starving. The usual ending of the story, which is out of this world, i.e. heaven and hell. The rich man goes to hell, and the poor man goes straight to heaven. The lesson is that riches lead to hell, and poverty leads to heaven. Luke’s gospel was addressed to non-Jewish converts who were very poor, and unsympathetic towards the rich. So they were consoled to hear that when they died they would go to heaven. So, let us all be poor and covered with sores. And if there are dogs to lick them then I suppose our chances are better.

I don't see why it should be that way. We are not told what the poor man did to merit heaven. We are not told that he blessed and thanked God in his misery and for that poverty. Whether he bestirred himself and did something to liberate himself from his misery. He could well have become poor due to laziness and lack of work, which is happening today.

Nor are we told that the rich man exploited or oppressed the poor man.

In fact, there was no need for the poor man to have entered the story at all - the rich man could have gone to hell just the same.

The Gospel does not intend to teach a social lesson, at least not primarily. It wants to tell us that there have been some seriously wrong choices, some very serious neglect. Neglect can happen on three levels: a) The love of God, the prophets and church teaching.

b) Neglect of self - the mystery in our lives.

c) Neighbour - especially those in need.

In the second part of the parable the chief interest is concentrated on the fate of the five brothers. These brothers were not converted by the threat of the Day of Yahweh, the coming of the Lord. The rich man and his brothers were not concerned with the Day of Yahweh as they were with this world and their possessions. The poor, on the other hand, were open, and consequently the Kingdom was more accessible to them.

No longer is there question of wealth and poverty, but of irreligion and selfishness on the part of people who are unable to read the signs of God. For them, death is the end (v. 28); they will not even be convinced by the resurrection of the body, because they are not accustomed to see in their own lives the signs of survival. The search for signs is a pretext only. Man is saved by hearing the Word (Moses, the prophets, and Jesus) and by vigilance, not by apparitions and miracles.

Finally, this parable proclaims the reversal of situations, the rich becoming poor and vice versa. It voices the revolt of so many human beings against mistreatment and indignity: the poor crushed by the rich, the poor man persecuted by the wicked.

Jesus himself endured mistreatment. He was taken for a malefactor, simply because this would more convenient for certain people: “it s expedient that one man die for the nation…” Jn 11, 50). He made the cross the great testimony of love, and thus his revolt against indignity became supremely efficacious. It gave human the hope of a future where selfishness and hostility would have to make way for dignity and love. His disciples could only build that future by continuing their turn the great movement of revolt by the poor.

PRAYER: by Alan Paton (1903 – 1988), novelist who wrote the beautiful book, Cry, the Beloved Country.

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the need of others, open my ears that I may hear their cries, open my heart so that they need not be without help. Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong, not afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich. Show me where love and hope and faith are needed, and use me to bring them to these places. Open my eyes and ears that I may, this coming day, be able to do some work of peace for thee. Amen.

TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY Year "C"

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm Am 8:4-7
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
There are often striking parallels in the writings of the Prophets, with similar conditions to our own times. In our First Reading today, the prophet Amos condemns the greed of "those who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land" and also "We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!" (Amos 8:4-5) How like this is in our own times in which the greed of many in the nations of the world, is the root cause of debasing poverty! 

Our newly canonized saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, spent most of her life trying to restore the dignity of those lying at the side of the streets left to die. In his homily at her canonization this past September 4th, 2016, Pope Francis sounded like Amos when he said of Mother Teresa, "she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime - the crimes of poverty they created."
In the Gospel, the unjust steward puzzles us. Why is he commended for making friends of the "mammon" of iniquity? He even hoped that his master who had just fired him for "cooking the books" would notice how very clever he was! Yes, the master noticed and commended him for his wily ways! Jesus tells His disciples that if they (the children of the light), were as clever and industrious as the children of darkness, they could have gained spiritual treasures for eternal life instead of earthly wealth.

"You cannot serve both God and money" (Matthew 6:24) Jesus said. Greed is not really a private sin. By inordinate love for money, we make it into a god. We worship it instead of God. Christ spent His whole life in service, especially to the poor and downtrodden. 
As Pope Francis commended Mother Teresa for seeing the face of Christ in the poor and the sick, so he tells us that our mercy and love of the poor unlocks real justice. As Christians, there is no alternative to charity. Mother Teresa's mercy was "the salt which gave flavor to her work, it was the light that shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering."
As Jesus stooped down to us many times in our needs, so we can do a little more "stooping down" to aid the misery and poverty which pervades our world. It's a question of good stewardship. And the Lord will one day commend us with the abundant treasure of eternal life.

THE WILY STEWART

Luke 16, 1-8

A big landlord has come to discover that his general manager (steward) has mismanaged his goods and demands that he put his accounts in order prior to his dismissal. The manager, who up to now, has grown fat over his job and lived as a gentleman, is worried about his future. He certainly is not going to beg, still less to dig in the fields. And yet, these are the only honest solutions, especially the second one. But being a fat cat, he resorts to the only so-called honourable means, the only solution befitting a so-called gentleman: CHEATING.

He calls for his master’s debtors one by one and proposes a simple plan; he will turn over to the boss smaller bills than those actually owed, on condition, however, that they will not forget to show him gratitude for the favour.

Despite all precautions, this scheme too is discovered by the boss, but internally he cannot help admiring his shrewd cleverness. The landlord praises the manager not for his dishonesty but for his prudence and forethought.

Our Lord Jesus concludes the parable by holding up as an example for us, not the fraudulent behaviour or the avarice or the cunning of the manager, but the alacrity or swiftness with which this worldly man provides for his future. His smartness and circumspection, you could say.

If only in serving God we could imitate the enthusiasm of men who strive for worldly things. If we could even imitate the zeal of those misguided people who try to destroy God’s kingdom.

God is the great landowner; we are his stewards. Whatever we have is his, not ours. We must make use of things in order to serve people; not use people in order to gain things. Whatever we have is his, not ours. He puts it at our disposition that we may, so to say, trade with it. He grants us a lease of it, but only when he pleases and as long as he pleases. The more we have received, the greater the interest that will be exacted of us. Apart from material wealth (if we have it), God has entrusted to us other talents: health or illness (mysteriously also a gift), poverty, time, the Church, the sacraments. And everybody has the capacity to love – the greatest and best talent of all!

God has appointed us to go and bear fruit…for eternity, in earnest, with eagerness, grabbing every occasion, exploiting for good every situation.

We must go forward in the spirit of love, asking God this question:

“What can I do to please you, my Father?”