26th Sunday of Year C 2010

26^th Sunday Year (C)

(Amos 6:1, 4-7; 1^st. Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31)

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the readings given us by Mother Church today we are presented with some strong word-pictures made all the more striking by their resemblance to modern-day excesses in our Western society:

Woe to the complacent in Zion!  Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall!    Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment. They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils.

St. Paul had that sort of life-style in mind when, earlier in the letter from which our second reading was taken, he taught his converts:

Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful desires which plunge them into ruin and destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.   But you, man of God, avoid all this.  Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.  Compete well for the faith; lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called. 

This same theme was taken up again in our Gospel reading, where Jesus, in His parable of a luxuriant rich man with a poor beggar at his gate, names the poor man Lazarus but gives no name to the rich man, almost as if He was too disgusted to dignify with an honourable name one leading such a life:

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 which the dogs used to come and lick.

Jesus brought His parable to its climax after both the rich man (whom we have traditionally referred to as ‘Dives’ from the Latin word meaning ‘rich’) and Lazarus had died, thereby revealing to us where such revelling in luxury and pleasures ultimately leads:

The rich man 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.’

Why did Jesus give a parable with Abraham as the heavenly figure?  Perhaps, because He was, at that time, speaking to some Pharisees; for earlier we are told:

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, derided Jesus. (Luke 16:14)

It would seem, therefore, that Jesus was saying to them: ‘You who trust in your descent from Abraham and yet love money so much, it is not I who will ultimately condemn your behaviour.  No, it will be Abraham -- in whom you trust and boast -- whom you will find both unwilling and unable to help you when you come to reap your retribution of punishment for pleasure and humiliation for pride.’  For Jesus has Abraham answer Lazarus’ appeal on behalf of his brothers, with the words:

            They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.

Once again, in another confrontational encounter with certain Pharisees, Jesus invokes Moses in much the same way as today He mentions Abraham:

Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust, for he wrote about me. (John 5:45)

So, attacking His pharisaic adversaries root and branch – proud descendants of Abraham and dedicated adherents to the Law of Moses – all who heard Jesus learned that those who would give their lives over to selfish pride, pleasure, and plenty, would ultimately pay the price, no matter who they might now seem to be.

Moreover, notice how, in the parable, Abraham explained the situation to Dives:

My child, remember that you received what was good (from God) during your lifetime, while Lazarus likewise received what was bad (from men); but now he is comforted here whereas you are tormented.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those words are also for us.  The God we worship is holy and just, and the gifts He gives us are -- all of them -- good, they are all blessings: strength or beauty, intellectual or physical capabilities, attractive personality or strength of character, a sensitive and understanding nature or an independent and courageous spirit.  But if, in the course of our earthly life, we choose to put these good things to sinful use -- be it by totally absorbing ourselves in personal enjoyment of them as did our rich man (why should we name him?) who never even noticed Lazarus lying at his gate in abject poverty, or by diverting them from their original and primal purpose of giving glory to God and service to society -- into instruments for personal aggrandizement and individual advantage, then such misuse will meet with sure punishment after death.  Strength is debased by the bully and the thug, beauty is sullied by the siren or the tart; intelligence is abused by the criminal and personal charm betrayed by the fraudster.

Mother Church and our society have suffered long from the gentle-Jesus people who have made our Christian, Catholic, faith at times seem spineless, toothless, and totally unable to inspire or challenge anyone.  And yet, just as, in the Old Testament, there was no way back for Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, even though he pleaded with tears to his father Isaac; so too, in Jesus' New Testament parable, there is no repeal for Dives in hell, not even a hearing for his prayer on behalf of his brothers.

Money, of itself, is not evil; but it is, as Jesus said, ‘a tainted thing’.  Jesus spoke of money in that way because, for the most part, the making of much money comes from dishonest practices and leads to sinful indulgence.  But for an age such as ours, where ideals are so low and worldly goods seem so attractive, we should perhaps allow as much as we can and condemn only what it totally unacceptable.   Therefore let me simply repeat the Christian and Catholic teaching: money and money-making are not intrinsically evil; indeed, honest making of money can bring the great blessing of employment for others, while money personally possessed can be used to benefit others in need, as Jesus Himself had just said:

Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. (Luke 16:9)

Nevertheless, People of God, we Catholics should not allow ourselves to be deceived neither should we deceive ourselves: a life spent trying to get, enjoy, and pile up money, is an evil life. Some, there are, who -- vaguely recognizing this in the vestiges of their conscience -- try, by token gestures and chosen words, to deceive both themselves and others; however, to these Jesus says:

You justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.  (v. 15)

There are others, less devious perhaps, but more pathetic, who like to think there is safety in numbers; and who, clinging to that gentle-Jesus sort of attitude I mentioned before, cloud their minds with such thoughts as: "Surely all those other people can't be condemned!"  The answer is, of course, that we do not know who or how many will be condemned, but we do know for certain that Jesus once said:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

People of God, we are a people whose recent development is marked out clearly by the changes in our appreciation and understanding of the Latin word "caritas” and our translation of it as “charity".  "Charity" originally meant heavenly love; it was God-given and was inimitable.  The word was then changed to "love", and it’s meaning was understood, first of all, as noble human love, the love of friendship  and married love; then, because a downward slope easily becomes slippery, the word ‘love’ in popular use gradually came to signify the sexual expression of all sorts of human relationships, even the most aberrant. Finally today, it is used to designate any and every emotional exuberance: be it that of parents who ‘let their children decide for themselves’ in all things; or of the abortionists ever willing to indulge any weeping prospective-mother by having her child pay for her ‘mistakes’; or of those promoting the right to assisted death for the sick and elderly regardless of the threat such a ‘right’ could easily become for others selfishly considered ‘old and useless’.  For all such people the words discipline, self-control, sacrifice, patience, trust, and supremely, faithfulness, are almost dirty words, said to be unsympathetic and inhuman, certainly inadmissible and totally unacceptable as descriptions of a way of life. 

You justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

People of God, we should try to appreciate our Faith -- in the integrity of its truth and beauty, its strength and sheer goodness -- ever more and more.  We should try to appreciate it better in order that we might come to love it more, indeed with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength, so that we might give it free and full expression in our lives by refusing to accommodate ourselves to that pervading shallowness of modern society which, for so many, smothers the true light of faith and the real beauty of love, just as it enervates the sure strength of self-discipline and the deep joy of self-sacrifice.                                                                                                                       

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2013

 25^th. Sunday, Year (C)

(Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2: 1-8; Luke 16:1-13)

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?  And if you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?

Those are words more easily read than pondered; but surely, we are right to hope that, coming from the lips of our Blessed Lord, they will prove well-worth whatever care and attention we can manage to give them.

Dishonest wealth would seem to be best understood according to the words of a previous parable of Our Lord:

The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, ‘I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you; and these things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.  (Luke 12:16-21)

Wealth did indeed speak dishonestly to that rich man; but the parable also told us something about true wealth which, it said, makes a man rich towards God.

We find the same teaching in the book of Revelation (3:17-18):

You say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’  You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  Buy from me gold that is refined by fire so that you may be rich.

The rich man’s wealth may also be considered as ‘dishonest’ in so far as one person accumulates a great amount and considers it as exclusively ‘his’, whereas, the world and all its resources were originally given, provided, by God for the good of all mankind.

And so we have gathered some light for an understanding of the first part of our original quote:

If you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? 

Which means, Will God trust you with true wealth?  That is, will God trust you who give such credence to the blandishments of dishonest wealth -- relax, eat, drink, and be merry – and for which He has just declared you to be a Fool, will He trust you with true wealth?  Of course not. 

And now Our Lord’s words go on immediately to speak of that true wealth:

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, will God give you what is yours? 

 Here the words speak of spiritual blessings and heavenly rewards, rewards that God alone ‘gives’ (note the new word, no longer ‘trusts’ -- for a time and on the way --  but ‘gives’ so that it becomes eternally ‘yours’);  and those words, what belongs to another, refer to blessings that lead to, bring about, win for us, God’s giving: blessings and graces that belong to Christ, being the fruit of His teaching, won by His suffering, Death and Resurrection, and bestowed upon us by His Spirit of Truth, Love, and Life. 

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with (the) dishonest wealth (of worldly riches),  will (God) trust you with true wealth (that would make you rich towards Himself)?  And if you are not trustworthy with what belongs to Jesus, will (God) give you what (would indeed be yours eternally, in and as a member of, Jesus)?

But, finally, how can one be trustworthy with dishonest wealth?

Because wealth -- as such -- is not intrinsically and necessarily dishonest.   It is indeed, always dangerous:

I tell you, Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to pass the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.  (Matthew 19:24)

Nevertheless, our Gospel passage today speaks of the possibility of such trustworthiness because the essential dishonesty of riches comes when, as we have mentioned, their possessor is possessed by such riches and allows them to most truly make a fool of him: treating them as the ultimate aim of his life, or himself as their exclusive owner.  Therefore, we can perhaps finally, for today’s purposes, understand our Gospel reading in the following way:

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with (the dangerously) dishonest wealth (of worldly riches), will (God) trust you with true wealth (that would make you rich towards Himself)?  And if you are not trustworthy with (such true wealth that) belongs to Jesus, will (God) give you what (could be) yours (now and for ever, in Jesus)?

Let us now sum up what we have profitably learnt from our endeavours to understand, rightly appreciate, and profit from, Our Lord’s words to us this Sunday.

It is possible for a Christian to have riches and prove trustworthy in his use of them, but that can only be done by using such wealth for Christian purposes for the good of others (cf. St. Anthony the Great and his young sister); however, it would seem, that for one aspiring to become most close to God, as was the case with the rich young man who approached Jesus in the Gospel story, then such riches might have to be set aside all together for love of God Himself.

Next we should consider how the rich man in today’s Gospel reading delighted in his wealth:

The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, ‘I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.’

So too, People of God, we should delight in the graces of God that enable us to work sincerely for the coming of His Kingdom and for the attainment of our own God-given share in it.   We should, most certainly, recognize and rejoice in God’s present goodness to us on our way, and unashamedly show our gratitude, not only by steady perseverance, but also by wholehearted thanksgiving.

And now, how awe-inspiring are those final words for our consideration:

            Who will give you what is yours? or better, God will give you what is yours.

Such is the wonder of God’s goodness to all who strive to walk with Christ -- according to His words, in the power and under the inspiration of His Spirit, for the ultimate love of His Father – that all those spiritual blessings and gifts we have been using throughout our years of Christian endeavour actually form us in Christ so that we – in heaven – are no longer our fragile and faulty selves as on earth but, as God originally planned, our sublime and glorious selves in Jesus, ‘other Christs’ indeed, as the Good News puts it:

God will give us what is (become) OURS in Jesus,

with the result that our whole being will thrill before, and respond to, the majestic beauty, goodness, and truth, of God with absolute and total, filial and divine, spontaneity and fulness.

24th Sunday of Year C 2013

24^th. Sunday of Year (3)

(Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14; 1Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10)

In today’s Gospel reading we are told that Our Blessed Lord was aware – did He just know their hearts or hear some whispered words? – of certain Pharisees and scribes criticising His attitude toward a number of tax-collectors and other publicly known sinners who, as distinct from last Sunday’s ‘great crowds’ just traveling with Jesus, were in fact:

            All drawing near to listen to Him.

 

We are all aware of the dangers of consorting carelessly with unprincipled people, and so Jesus did not rebuke them for their thoughts directly; instead, He spoke to them as to men with understanding and good judgement:

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?

Now Jesus was, at that very moment -- according to the criticisms of the Pharisees and scribes -- giving too much, and too close, attention to those tax-collectors and sinners, whilst leaving the very important flock of devout Pharisees and learned scribes out of consideration; leaving them, as it were, to continue finding their own pasture on the heights of Israel (the desert in our story) under the watchful eyes of friendly shepherds (the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets).

However, Jesus was not seeking to antagonize the Pharisees and scribes and so He addressed them directly as possible owners of a considerable flock, not as mere shepherds who were lowly esteemed for their religious fidelity.  Now, for prudent owners -- even though one sheep out of a flock of one hundred is numerically little enough -- nevertheless, one hundred is a perfect number and ninety-nine is not, and so, one sheep, perhaps not so very important of itself, could still be missed as part of the flock.

In such a way Jesus’ opening words could have drawn muted assent from even such critically disposed listeners, and He could reasonably have hoped further that they might be able, tacitly at least, to continue to identify with Him when He went on to say:

And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home ... says, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep!

Yes, the Pharisees and scribes could appreciate such a little parable and agree with the sentiments thus far expressed; but there was perhaps one thought that might trouble them somewhat: ‘Who is this fellow comparing us – devout and learned as we are – with mere sheep; not perfect, as a flock, without this one lost  sheep?’  And now, Jesus, the Master, showing His divine wisdom, suddenly changed His earthly ‘pastorale’ into a heavenly apostrophe:

I tell you, in just the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

It was a passing dart that Jesus hoped, indeed, would sting, but again it was not a face-to-face confrontation, for He went on immediately to address another parable to them telling of the deep but simple joy of a woman on finding again  her loved-and-lost coin, with no mention whatsoever, this time, of any righteous people having no need of repentance.

Let us, now, look a little more closely at the wording of Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep:

I tell you, in just the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

He says, in just the same way because of the saving Shepherd in both cases: the earthly shepherd had gone in search of the lost sheep and, on finding it, carried it on his shoulders back to the flock; and corresponding to that, we have the picture of another Shepherd, this time a heavenly one, Jesus, and the sinners gathering round Him to hear His words; sinners who -- despite appearances -- were not, of themselves, initiating a search for Jesus, but were, even to their own possible embarrassment, actually being drawn by the Spirit to Jesus.

In just the same way, and in each case, the lost sheep grazes until the shepherd  finds what was lost

There however the parallel stops, for Jesus goes on to speak in His last four words of a ‘lost sheep’ which actually participates in its own rescue and return:

there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

That is the difference between a lost sheep and a lost human being, a human being can repent on being ‘found’ by Jesus, which means, of course, that repentance is the result of an encounter with Jesus, an appreciation of and response to the divine beauty, goodness, and truth shining on the  human face of Jesus.  For only the experience of holiness can convict someone of their own sinfulness, only beauty can enable another to appreciate and acknowledge their own ugliness, and only innocence and simplicity can lead a liar to hate their own duplicity.

Now, the greatest charge against the Pharisees and scribes complaining against Jesus was precisely the fact that, by constant and carping criticism, they were their closing their hearts and minds to His patent beauty and truth, goodness and humility; ‘patent’ I say, because recognized and sought out -- against themselves and their own immediate interests -- by tax-collectors and public sinners.

This is a most important lesson for us Catholic Christians to learn today; for we are now being called to account for our faith in times when our governments -- the United Kingdom, the United States, and, of course, France -- are abandoning or have long abandoned their Christian heritage in favour of self-proclaiming scepticism and rationalism, and are even openly advocating the arming of rebels in Syria regardless of their sectarian fanaticism and known enmity towards Christians living where Christians have always lived and first proclaimed Jesus as Lord.  

In our account for our faith it is not Christian dogma that needs to be quoted, even though that is the backbone of our life and the substance of our hope; it is not the superiority of basic Christian morality as taught by the Church  -- though that is undoubtedly the case over the course of history and when sincerely studied and objectively appreciated  What is needed above all for an up-to-date and effective ‘account’ of our Faith is living, personal, witness: witness, that is, to the joy and peace, strength and inspiration, each of us, as individual Catholics, finds in our experience of Jesus Himself, and in the beauty and strength of His truth in our appreciation of life and the experience our sufferings.

Toward that end, let us learn from today’s Gospel, and endeavour -- with those tax-collectors and sinners -- to draw daily ever closer to Jesus in our appreciation of the fact that the Good News we proclaim is His Good News: Good News embodied in His Person and in the salvation He brings and offers us; Good News to be lived in the power of His Spirit for the Father Who sent Him and Who calls us in Him.  

Dear People of God, draw ever closer to Jesus by reading the Scriptures with Him in view, above all read the Gospels which proclaim His words and recount His deeds; draw close, however, not so much by remembering words that can be used in arguments but by a whole-hearted appeal to His Spirit, in the Church and within you personally, for enlightenment and power that you might fully appreciate and respond to His unique expression of divine love and eternal truth.