Woe to the Complacent - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Many people who frequent the sacrament of reconciliation often complain of confessing the same sins each time they enter the confessional. Instead of being discouraged, this realization can become a great blessing because the person who has this struggle is not complacent in working against their sins. They are not giving up in the battle to increase in virtue and grow in sanctity. The rich man in today's Gospel reading, however, lost the battle long ago and now finds himself in the wrong side of Sheol. How did he arrive at this predicament?


The prophet Amos provides us with the first clue in our search for an answer to the rich man's dilemma. The Gospel text describes the man's lifestyle as one of great feasting and enjoyment in physical pleasures. Amos details well the life of a person of wealth in his time and in any age: they place a great deal of importance in providing for themselves the best of everything for their bodies that they overlook the needs of their souls and the needs of the poor who exist all around them. As the spiritual writer Francis Fernandez points out, "He lived for himself as if God did not exist. He had completely forgotten the fact that we are not owners of what we have, but only administrators." (In Conversation with God, vol. 5, p. 118)


Paul encourages Timothy not to forget the reality of God. God alone is immortal and unapproachable. We cannot live as if we are some deity who cannot be approached by others, nor can we live our lives as if we will never die. For we will die one day and we will need to answer the fundamental questions of our life: did we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, welcome the stranger, and care for the ill? The rich have an obligation to share the good things God has given to them with those who have nothing at all. If we live a life of simplicity and detachment, "we will be able to live solidarity with those who suffer, with the poor and the sick, with the marginalized and the oppressed. Our sensitivity will grow. It will not be so hard for us to see Jesus Christ in the needy person in frontof us. It is Christ who speaks to us those memorable words, 'As long as you did it for these the least of my brethren, you did it for me (Mt. 25: 40). These will be our credentials on the day of judgment. We will all understand at that time that Heaven is reserved for those who loved their brothers in deeds and in truth." (A. Fuentes, The Christian Meaning of Wealth, 1988)


The sad fate of the rich man is highlighted in multiple ways by the Gospel writer. First, Luke gives the poor man a name, Lazarus, while the rich man remains nameless in the story. The lack of a name indicates how insignificant in reality this rich man is, though he sees himself as important in his own eyes. Second, the man fails to grasp his own situation even in the bad side of Sheol. He orders Abraham as if the patriarch were a servant of his - first to have his thirst relieved, then to appear to his family in order to warn them. The response of Abraham is equally telling: first, he tells the rich man about the great chasm that divides them, a great irony since in this mortal life the rich man had created a great chasm between himself and Lazarus. Second, Abraham reminds him of all the teachings and examples of the Jewish tradition that could prevent his family from suffering the same fate as he. If they could not believe the great signs of salvation histoy, they cannot come to faith through the resurrection of one man.


Complacency leads us eventually to think of ourselves as far greater than we are in reality, thereby leading us to forget God and the needs of others. St. Augustine came to realize the folly of his rich lifestyle and renounced it all for the sake of God and others. Let us unite our prayer to his as we pray for the resolution to live for others and not for ourselves: "How lovely I suddenly found it, to be free from the glamour of those vanities, so that not it was a joy to renounce what I had been so much afraid to lose. For you cast them out of me, O true and supreme Loveliness, you cast them out of me and took their place instead, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, yet not to mere flesh and blood; brighter than all light, yet deeper within than any secret, loftier than all honor, but not to those who are high and mighty in their own estimation." (St. Augustine, Confessions, 9, 1, 1)

Living As Children of Light - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Most of us have had the following experience: we hear a radio personality or a group of people they know rail on and on about the state of our world today. The culture of death is all about us; the world is going to heck in a hand basket; this age is the apocalyptic times. Leaving aside the fact that such sentiments seem to have been popular over the last two thousand years, we might well consider the solution to such a state of affairs. Very often the diagnosis of a problem is quite easy; a remedy is a more rare bird indeed.

The first reading for this Sunday seems to be a voice noted above: there is much corruption about - the poor are being exploited by the rich and God is not happy. Unless we change our ways God will punish us with great severity for our injustices both individual and social. The prophet Amos offers us no solution; what is more, he is stating a perennial problem that the prophets have been railing against for generations. Amos sees no solution - God will act with great severity soon.

In many ways Amos bears a great deal of similarity to John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus. Both John and Jesus preach a message of repentance that is addressed to an audience in Israel filled with groups offering solutions. The problem is Roman occupation leading to poverty and compromise with God's law. Various groups offer differing solutions: the Sadducees tell the people just to go along to get along; the Zealots are urging armed revolt; the Pharisees offer the solution of passive resistance and fidelity to God's law; the Essenes have left altogether, waiting for the Apocalyptic battle to come.

Jesus, however, offers a completely different solution: radical conversion and identification with the poor and marginalized. Care for the poor and voiceless is the most fundamental part of Jewish law - the part that matters. Jesus chose to become poor in order to serve the poor, a radical step unheard of in ancient times, but one that has been followed by many since the time of Jesus. In the Gospel text, Jesus is not content with half measures in approaching the reign of God. Those seeking wordly riches are far more aggressive in their projects than the children of light who claim to be seeking the reign of God. Only when the followers of Christ embrace fully the example of Christ in our lives will we arrive at a fundamental solution to the problems of the world. There is no other way - no panacea or silver bullet that can lead to a quick solution. The only path to renewal in our lives and in the world is when we take seriously the teaching and example of Christ and live as Jesus lived.

One of the false solutions finds an allusion in the reading from the first letter to Timothy. Some believe in social agitation and political empowerment through community organizing as the main solution to society's problems. Yet neither Jesus nor Paul offers that solution. Paul encourages us to pray for those in authority so that they will come to the conversion they need in their lives to arrive at the truth of authentic renewal in our lives and in the life of society. Our task as Christians in society is to deliver the truth that people need to hear, to pray for all, and to live as Christ has shown us both as individuals and as a society. As Pope John Paul II stated, "Humanity is loved by God! This very simple yet profound proclamation is owed to humanity by the Church. Each Christian's words and life must make this proclamation resound. The Master has said it already: if only we children of the light were to put at least as much effort and obstinacy into doing good as the children of darkness put into their activities." (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Christifidelis Laici #34, 1988)

Let us conclude our reflection by praying and incorporating into our lives the words of the Opening Prayer for today's Mass: "Let us pray to the Lord who is a God of love to all peoples. Father in heaven, the perfection of justice is found in your love and all mankind is in need of your love. Help us to find this love in each other that justice may be attained through obedience to your law. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

The Vocation to Forgiveness - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

In a recent homily published by the USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat, Bishop Finn connected the devotion of Divine Mercy to the issue of capital punishment, making the case that our vocation is to imitate God's mercy in our lives and our laws. Our society's use of the death penalty does not lead us to this vocation of mercy and should therefore be abandoned. Some in the Church find this teaching difficult: the authoritative statements of Pope John Paul II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church fail to convince them. Perhaps a consideration of this week's scripture texts for Mass may provide additional light on our Christian vocation to forgiveness and mercy.

The first reading points to the worst possible sin for the people of Israel. After experiencing the mercy of God in being released from the slavery of Egypt, the Israelites craft a false god and worship it while Moses is in communion with God on Mount Sinai. Rather than punishing the people with death, God spares the people, and Moses provides us with an example of a godly leader who seeks mercy for people so that they might be brought closer to God.

The responsorial psalm is the famous "Miserere" prayer of David after committing the double sin of killing Uriah and then having an adulterous relationship with Uriah's wife Bathsheba. David implores God's mercy upon him, and God does spare David's life. This experience of God's mercy led David to compose songs of praise to God and to be the most just leader Israel would ever have.

In the second reading Paul relates to Timothy the great mercy God has bestowed upon him. Paul had first been a blasphemer who persecuted the young Christian community, and yet neither God nor the early Christians sought his death. Instead, God comes to Paul in a vision and brings Paul to conversion. What is more, the Christian community, though initially skeptical, accept Paul into their midst and he goes on to become the great Apostle to the Gentiles.

In these three examples we might consider the outcome if God had not chosen to have mercy: Israel would not have experienced the great events of salvation history; David's reign would not have passed to Solomon and the subsequent ancestry that leads to the birth of Jesus; Paul would not have had his productive ministry that brought the light of salvation to many nations.

As great as these acts of mercy were, none compares to the mercy shown in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In asking for his inheritance in advance, the younger son essentially desires his father's death, the worst possible shame that a child can inflict upon a parent. Despite this indignity, the father gives the son the inheritance, and the son in turn squanders the money on sinful living. The culture of the day would have seen the son disowned by the father, but in this story the father seeks out his lost son and restores him to his household. What is more, the father does not reject the indignant older son, telling the older son that he has a place in the house always.

The parable, of course, is about God's mercy to us, and so too are the other readings. The Church in her wisdom places these readings before us today for us to consider mercy in our own lives: is mercy something we seek for ourselves only, or do we recognize the obligation for us to live a life of mercy toward others? This obligation is not only personal in our individual dealings with others, but also it is an obligation to society in its dealings with people. The salvation of souls demands that we provide each individual every possible opportunity to encounter the merciful God.

The Eucharist is the memorial of the great act of God's forgiveness extended to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. In receiving Holy Communion we hope to become what we eat - the very person of Jesus in our lives and actions, actions of mercy and love. And so we conclude our reflection by praying with the universal Church the prayer after communion for today's liturgy: "Lord, may the Eucharist you have given us influence our thoughts and actions. May your Spirit guide and direct us in your way. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen."