26th Sunday: Recognizing Lazarus and Learning to Love

The rich man lived in opulent luxury.  He feasted luxuriously every day of the week.  His sin was not that he was rich, but that he had misused his time, his talent and his treasure. He was totally self-absorbed.  His sin was gross self-indulgence and this blinded him from even noticing the needs of Lazarus.  

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - If we were to step back in time and place ourselves within the historical context of this Sunday's gospel narrative, we would notice that people did not have utensils such as knives, forks or napkins when they ate a meal.  They ate with their hands, and in wealthy homes, they cleaned their hands by wiping them on pieces of bread, which were later thrown away.  Lazarus, the poor beggar, lay there daily, hoping to receive these pieces of bread.  
 
The rich man lived in opulent luxury.  He feasted luxuriously every day of the week.  His sin was not that he was rich, but that he had misused his time, his talent and his treasure. He was totally self-absorbed.  His sin was gross self-indulgence and this blinded him from even noticing the needs of Lazarus.  
 
Our earthly existence provides us with countless opportunities to change our lives.  God continually pours his graces upon us and continually calls us to repentance and conversion.  Death is definitive because when we die all opportunity for change ceases abruptly.  Judgment by God determines our eschatological destiny.   The drama of our contemporary world is made even more spectacular because so many people have closed themselves to the truth and have chosen to continue down the path of destruction.
 
"'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'  And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'  He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead'"(Luke 16: 27-31).
 
The message of this Sunday's gospel narrative is powerful indeed.  Jesus clearly reveals different dimensions of the Catholic Church's eschatological teaching.  The parable teaches us about the immortality of the soul, the particular judgment, the existence of hell and eternal life in heaven.

Scripture when it speaks of the place known as the "bosom of Abraham" is not referring to purgatory although references to purgatory do exist.  Instead, the expression "bosom of Abraham" refers to the place where the souls of the just remained before the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #633).
 
 A vivid description of hell is very striking in Jesus' parable.  What is most unusual is that this is one of three moments in the Gospels when Jesus actually uses the word "hell."   In his teachings on eternal condemnation, he refers to hell many times; however, in those moments, he always uses descriptive expressions such as "Gehenna," "eternal fire," "the unquenchable fire," "furnace of fire" and "where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."  
 
 Many times people become quite offended when priests preach about the reality of hell.  A number of years ago during another parish assignment, I gave a very clear teaching on the existence of hell.  One parishioner suggested that it was not productive to talk about negative things at Mass.  He thought that I was actually frightening people.  He said that it was enough for good people to simply focus their attention on doing good projects that would benefit the local community.  I kindly explained to my parishioner that the Gospel is very clear that we need always to love our neighbor and to promote works of charity and social justice for the good of the community. But, the Gospel is also clear that all of our acts do have eternal consequences and that our good acts have true meaning only in the light of eternity.  

The teachings of Jesus on the existence of hell are clear.  If we deny the existence of hell or fail to talk about it from our pulpits or in our catechism classes, then we are denying an essential part of Christianity.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, 'eternal fire'. The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs" (#1035).
 
In his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, John Paul II is asked by his interviewer, Vitorrio Messori, if the Catholic Church still believes in the existence of hell and why so many pulpits and classrooms are silent on the subject.  The Holy Father answers the question by affirming the teaching of the Catholic Church on the existence of hell and goes on to say that preachers, catechists and teachers "no longer have the courage to preach the threat of hell" (176).  Moreover, the Pope goes on to say that "perhaps even those who listen to them have stopped being afraid of hell" (176).
 
"In fact, people of our time have become insensitive to the Last Things.  On the one hand, secularization and secularism promote this insensitivity and lead to a consumer mentality oriented toward the enjoyment of earthly goods.  On the other hand, the 'hells on earth' created in this century which is now drawing to a close have also contributed to this insensitivity.  After the experience of concentration camps, gulags, bombings, not to mention natural catastrophes, can man possibly expect anything worse from this world, an even greater amount of humiliation and contempt?  In a word, hell?" (176).
 
The reality of hell and the possibility of eternal condemnation constitute for us a daily call to conversion.  The sin of the rich man in this Sunday's gospel narrative proceeded from his gross self-indulgence and self-absorption.  Is not this a kind of hell on earth?
 
The rich man's self-indulgence and self-absorption characterize much of our modern American society.  Many of our contemporaries have fallen into the pit of self-indulgence and self-absorption.  It saddens me to see so many people walk around as if they were lifeless, without joy and without meaning in their lives.
 
The pervasive atmosphere of selfishness, greed, lust and self-indulgence most assuredly influences and contaminates good Christian people who are struggling each day to live the Gospel with authenticity.     Given that it is so easy to succumb to the lures of the world, what are some of the ways in which we can keep intact our Christian identity?  I would like to offer a number of suggestions.
 
1.    We must deepen our friendship with Jesus through personal prayer.
2.     Read and meditate on the Word of God, the Holy Bible, every day.
3. Attend daily Mass or make frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
4. Stay close to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
5. Live every day for others.  Be of good cheer, kind and forgiving.
6. Live within our means always having a balanced budget.
7. Avoid credit card debt.
8. Purchase what we need, not what we want.
9. Be sure to tithe.
10.   Be generous to everyone.
 
I can assure you, that you will find in these suggestions ten steps that will make you profoundly happy.
 
Each moment of our existence must be a continual act of love.  We will be judged on how much we have loved.

Mother Teresa once said, "When we want to learn to love like Jesus, we need to listen to what he wants us to do - through prayer and meditation. And many times we will have to do things which, we ourselves don't want to do: to forgive someone who really hurt us deeply, to start over when somebody very close really disappoints us, to continue serving even after a great deception. All these things hurt. But this is the kind of forgiving and unselfish love God is calling us for."

In a world torn apart by war, violence, hatred, confusion and chaos, we all need to be ambassadors of God's love for humanity.  We need to show the world that love is possible.  We need to show the world that we believe in love!  I would suffocate and die if I could not live each day in love.  How absurd it is to be selfish.  Only Jesus, the icon of the Father's love for you and me, shows us how to love.  His way is simple, practical and clear.  His way is spelled out for us in the New Testament.  Love, love and love more and more each day.  Stretch your heart and love more each day.

In his first encyclical letter, The Redeemer of Man, Pope John Paul II wrote, "Man cannot live without love.  He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.  This is why Christ the Redeemer fully reveals man to himself."

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Father James Farfaglia, the Happy Priest, is the pastor of Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Father has a hard hitting blog called Illegitimi non carborundum.  He has also published a book called Man to Man: A Real Priest Speaks to Real Men about Marriage, Sexuality and Family Life.  You can contact Father at fjficthus@gmail.com.  You can click here for the audio podcast of this Sunday homily.

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