Today's parable, only found in Luke's gospel, is a frightening story. It ought to shake all of us up especially those of us who do very little to alleviate the pain of the poor.
Dives, the rich man in today's Gospel and Lazarus lived in two very different worlds even though they lived physically very close to each other. From this world's viewpoint, Dives got it all, a nice home, nice wardrobe ("he dressed in purple garments and fine linen"). He too, had lots of friends and he "dined sumptuously each day". Most likely, he went to church or synagogue on a regular basis. Being a wealthy man he may have been a sizable donor to his church. On the other hand his "neighbor" Lazarus had nothing, but hunger. His body "was covered with sores". He depended on the dogs for comfort. They licked his wounds. (A dog is indeed a man's best friend.) Each day Lazarus waited to see if he would be given some leftover scraps from the rich man's table.
A Reversal of Fortunes
When the two men die, there is a dramatic change of fortune. The good, friendly rich man finds himself in the torments of hell and the poor man goes to the bosom of Abraham to heaven. The rich man now becomes a beggar asking Lazarus for cool water. Lazarus now enjoys the luxuries of heaven. How come? How could the rich man receive such an eternal punishment? After all he wasn't mean to the poor man. He didn't kick him or object that his servants threw him scraps of leftovers. He didn't call the police and ask that the poor man be removed from outside his gate. So what was his sin? All commentators on this story agree that the rich man's sin was that he didn't even notice the poor man and he didn't lift a finger to alleviate his pain or hunger. The rich man went to hell for a gross sin of omission. Dives may even have thought: "There are millions of poor people like Lazarus in our world. It's too bad, but the problem is too big for me. I could help him today, but tomorrow he would be back again". Dives choose to ignore the poor man's plight and he was sent to hell for his insensitivity and lack of compassion.
Dives wakes up too late.
In hell, Dives hopes that Lazarus, whom he ignored on earth might come and help him. But it's too late. There is now a "great chasm" between heaven and hell and there is no crossing over.
Then Dives begins to think of his household. He now sees clearly that if they do not wake up and respond to the poor around them, they too will end up in hell. But he is told that if they do not heed the words of the Bible which clearly speak of one's responsibility to the poor, they will not listen even if Lazarus should be sent to them.
What is our response to the poor?
We can talk about our response as a nation, as a church family and individually.
As a Nation
I'm sure most, if not all of us feel and believe that America is very generous to the Third World, and we are in many ways, especially individually. But as a nation, we may not be as generous as we think. This past week I read an article by Fr. Robert Driman SJ., law professor at Georgetown University and former Congressman. Fr. Driman writes: " The United States has only 4% of the world's population, but uses some 40% of it's resources. Proportionally, our government donates less in foreign aid to poor countries than any of the 23 donor countries". The key word in that quote is "proportionally". The millionaire may give to charity a lot more than any of us, but in the context of his blessings we may give a lot less. Jesus, watching those placing their money in the collection plate praised the poor widow for giving from her substance.
As a church
As a church in America, we have a strong sense of Jesus's message of justice and charity to the poor. For example, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) represents the American Catholic Church in 80 countries. Where there is human disaster you will find CRS present helping to give aid. CRS also has many development programs which helps groups of people "fish for themselves". Catholic Charities has a huge ministry to the poor in this country. It is a highly respected organization. Catholic Charities is the kind of organization that should benefit from President Bush's faith-based initiative if it ever gets off the ground. The Campaign for Human Development (CHD) is a third national ministry representing the Catholic Church in America. Its total focus is to help people fish for themselves. As Catholics in America, we can be very proud of these three organizations/ministries. They represent us very well at home and abroad.
Ascension Parish.
As a parish we reach out to the poor and hurting at home and abroad by:
The above are some examples of the many ways our parish responds to the needs of the poor.
Many parishes in our country including my last parish set aside 10% of their weekly offertory collection to aid the poor at home and abroad. I'm hoping that our parish can move in this direction in the coming years. In the light of today's gospel all or nearly all parishes in the First World have a big responsibility towards less fortunate parishes in the Third World.
Individually
I'm sure all of us have charities and works of mercy that we contribute to. Perhaps this is a good Sunday to look at the extent of our giving. Some individuals and families can give very little because they are struggling to keep their heads above the ground. But many of us are in a position to give three or five per cent of our income to the poor without denying ourselves of many of the pleasures of life. But the hard question is: do we give 5% if we are in a position to do so? If not, why not? I don't know. Perhaps, we have not let the plight of the poor touch our hearts. That's got to be a big piece of it. It would seem Dives never allowed Lazarus' pain to touch his heart and as a result he never lifted a finger to open his purse to help him. There may be several reasons why we could end up in hell. Some how, I feel ignoring the poor would seem to be the number one reason on Jesus' list (see Matt. 25, the Judgment Day gospel).
I doubt that few, if any of us are hard-hearted when it comes to helping the poor. What may happen is that they are not on our priority list when it comes to our budget. By the time we have paid all our other bills, there is precious left for the poor. Ideally, as followers of Christ, the poor should be on the top of our list. Our church talks about the "poor welcoming us into paradise". Today we can give thanks for the many ways our Nation, church and we individually give to the poor and we can pray that our Nation, church and us individually grow in generosity. Can you imagine the dent we would put in world hunger if our Nation, every church in America and those of us who can give 5% of our budget to the poor did in fact do so.