Reading I
Am 6:1a, 4-7
Thus says the LORD the God of hosts:
Woe to the complacent in
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;
yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!
Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile,
and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps 146:7,
8-9, 9-10
R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed he who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading II
1 Tm
6:11-16
But you, man of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called
when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,
and before Christ Jesus,
who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler
will make manifest at the proper time,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Gospel
Lk 16:19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"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,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he 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.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'
He said, 'Then I beg you, father,
send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers,
so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.'
But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.'
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"
In today’s First
Reading, Amos the prophet whose message resounds with justice, proclaims his
third and last “Woe!” He makes it clear that the Lord can and will devastate
the land as he has other lands already conquered by
The Second Reading has Paul listing the last of the household duties of a true man of God. Timothy, to whom the letter is addressed, is a welcome contrast to the false teachers who earnestly seek money. Timothy seeks virtue, especially those which edify the church: piety, faith, service, gentleness, and perseverance. A true teacher leads by his example of faithful witness to the Gospel regardless of the difficulties.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus illustrates beautifully through the story of the rich man and Lazarus how wealth should be used. The rich man was blind to the needs of the beggar Lazarus at his gate. He had no idea of how important it was to use the opportunity of helping Lazarus in preparing for eternal life. Jesus makes it clear that it was not the rich man’s wealth that kept him from sharing in the joy of eternity with Abraham but rather his misguided stewardship. Just as the lives of both the rich man and Lazarus were different, so too was their death: Lazarus is carried away by angels as a sign that his life is just beginning. The rich man is buried – his life is over.
The rich man is hopelessly separated from eternal joy in the bosom of Abraham (Sheol, Hades, Netherworld) and is able to see Lazarus which probably adds to his tormenting situation. Even in this state, the rich man still thinks of Lazarus as nothing more than an errand boy: “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” and “send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them”. It’s even surprising that the rich man not only recognizes Lazarus but even knows his name even though his was blind to his condition before he ended up in his tormented situation. Abraham’s response to the rich man is an explanation of why things have ended up the way they have and to remind him (and all who hear or read this story) that the word of God proclaimed through the centuries should be enough.
A reason is something we give before a conclusion is reached and an excuse is what we then give for not following out the conclusion. When true evangelization takes place, when we listen to the Word of God with our hearts and not just our ears, it brings us face to face with our excuses. We can no longer continue to legitimize what is obviously against truth and justice. We must change. Change causes fear: the fear of the unknown, fear of failure and ultimately fear of rejection. We are afraid to go against the flow, afraid to make waves and rock the boat so we remain complacent and continue to live our lives legitimizing what we know is contrary to the Gospel truth.
We feel for the mother who sees her child’s stomach swell from famine and disease, yet we continue sit at our table and eat our meal while intensely focusing on sitcom or drama unfolding on the television. We feel for the homeless who scavenge through our garbage cans yet we debate what flavor of dog food we should buy for our beloved pet. We feel and we feel but too often we do nothing. We continue to legitimize, to find excuses, to avoid facing the truth – in essence to avoid being evangelized because that would mean that we have to act. So we remain silent, and continue to “go with the flow” because that’s just the way things are and who are we to change it. In the end, we continue to leave Lazarus at the gate and become as blind to his situation as the rich man in the story did. Every once-in-a-while though, we’ll throw him a scrap from our table – we dig for a dollar bill and give it to him – but we don’t even make eye contact. We don’t want to come face to face with the reality that we may not be very good stewards of God’s creation and blessings. Today’s liturgy is a call to detach ourselves from worldly and to live the Gospel to the fullest. We are called to live for Christ and if we believe that Christ lives in my neighbor, then I must live for them also and not just for myself.
New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Fitzmyer, J. A., “TheGospel According to Luke”; LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Maddox, R., “The Purpose of Luke-Acts”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary".
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa