Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 30, 2007 - Year: C
Amos 6:1, 4-7; 1 Tim. 6:11-16. Lk. 16:19-31
CALLED TO BE A WARRIER

First Reading...
"Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, 'Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria!'

'Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!'

'Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of those who lie in ease shall pass away.'" [Amos 6:1, 4-7]

Second Reading...
"As for you, Timothy, man of God; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who is his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen." [1 Tim. 6:11-16]

Gospel Reading...
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'

The man who has been rich said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send Lazarus to my father's house - for I have five brothers - that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'

Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" [Lk. 16:19-31]

Just Think
Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with Rs. 86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do? Draw out every Rupee, of course!!!! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow". You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

• To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
• To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
• To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. .
• To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
• To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
• To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
• To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time. And remember that time waits for no one.

We are called to live a challenging life in all fronts. It is not possible for us to sit and relax. Of course relaxation is fine some times, but hard work renders.

What is real Wealth?
Wealth is a sign of God's blessing. They knew that poverty was the worst evil a human being could endure. They knew that it was nonsense to condemn those who tried to avoid it at all costs. 

It was in this context that Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man thought of only one thing in this life: how much he owned and how he could get more. Lazarus had nothing. He was sick, poor, and unnoticed. Each day he would sit at the gate of the rich man's house and beg for the scraps left over from the daily banquets. But the rich man and his servants did not even see him as they passed him at the gate day after day. 

Time passed in the lifetimes of both men, and when they came to die their situations were radically changed. Since Lazarus had endured his earthly poverty with patience, thinking of the heavenly banquet to come, he was taken into heaven and given a place of honor when he died. Since the rich man in his earthly life had never thought about anyone but himself, when he died he was a stranger to his Lord and was sent to hell, the place for strangers. 

The rich man cried for relief but got none. He then made this request: "Please, Lord, if I am beyond saving, at least send Lazarus back to earth to warn my brothers. They are as greedy as I was, but they still have time to change their ways." God answered: They have been warned already. I have spoken to them through the Scriptures. I have spoken to them through their conscience. I gave them the Ten Commandments. 

I gave them the common sense to know that they may live rich, but when they die they will take with them only the record of their good and evil deeds. 

The rich man pleaded:
These methods will not work with them. They have never listened to such things as conscience and Commandments. 

But they would listen if only the dead Lazarus would go back and talk to them. 

God responded: "If they have not listened to all the warnings I have given, they would not listen even if someone were to come back from the grave." Soon Jesus would prove the truth of his story. He would be killed, placed in a grave, and then rise from the dead. 

And all of this would make absolutely no difference to those who were spending their lives pursuing wealth at all costs. 

Wealth without work: This refers to the practice of getting something for nothing-manipulating markets and assets so you don't have to work or produce added value, just manipulate people and things. Today there are professions built around making wealth without working, making much money without paying taxes, benefiting from free government programs without carrying a fair share of the financial burdens, and enjoying all the perks of citizenship of country and membership of corporation without assuming any of the risk or responsibility.

To understand this teaching more clearly, let us look at a modern parable that seems to me to express in contemporary terms the main point of this parable. The classic movie, Casablanca, emphasizes what is meant by the word "solidarity" in this context. In the movie Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, has a poignant romance with Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman, just before the German occupation of Paris in World War II. They agree to leave Paris on the last train. When she does not show up, his heart is broken. He has to leave to escape the Gestapo and winds up in Casablanca running a night club. Ilsa turns up one night at the night club with her husband who turns out to be the prime force in the underground of the French Resistance. Rick is completely undone by her reappearance in his life. After much misunderstanding she finally gets a chance to explain what happened. When they had met in Paris, she had believed that her husband had been killed. When he turned up unexpectedly, on the very day she and Rick were to leave Paris, she had decided that her husband who was sick and in hiding needed her and that her first duty was to him. Hence her decision not to meet Rick at the train. But now she confesses, "I loved you then and I still love you!" And a little later, "I ran away from you once. I cannot do it again."

    The hero of the French Resistance is being traced down by the Gestapo. Rick has possession of two visas. Ilsa finds herself in a double bind: to stay with Rick or to escape with her husband. She tells Rick, "You must decide for both of us." As the plot unfolds, he makes the painful decision to put her and her husband on the plane while he stays behind.

    In making this choice, Rick does precisely what the rich man in the parable failed to do. He passes through the gate of his own little world into solidarity with the whole human family. He puts the desperate world situation of his time above his own happiness. He saw that the leader of the French Resistance, Ilsa's husband, was contributing to the undermining of Hitler's tyranny and that this heroic man needed the support of his wife in order to fulfill his role. He could have had Ilsa for himself, but he chose to let go of his private world with its alluring promise of personal happiness for the greater good of the whole human family. This is actually what God the Father has done according to the Christian faith, in sending his only begotten Son into the world to be crucified for our salvation. It is this insight into the heart of God and its manifestation in human affairs that make this film so extraordinary.

As we saw last, in the parable of the prodigal son, the father throws away his honor and personal interests in order to enter into solidarity with his disobedient sons. The kingdom of God is for everyone who understands that solidarity with the human family, made concrete in our local community, is the name of the game. Truly marvelous is the gate that enables us to enter into communion with one another. In that communion the kingdom of God achieves its highest activity. We are empowered to be and to act like God. On the other hand, if we use the gate to protect ourselves from those in need, the gate becomes a barrier that may continue into the next life.

Both the parable of the rich man and prodigal son speak of human love that imitates divine love by joining the human family in its desperate needs. If we are rich, our wealth is for the community, not for us. And if we love, our love must take into account an ever-increasing identification with everyone in the human family.

The nature of the kingdom of God is that is has to be shared. Hence in the Christian perspective, community is the supreme value. To relate to the whole human family as God's family is the basic thrust of the gospel. That is why the refusal to be reconciled is such a serious matter and why, when Peter asked, "How many times must I forgive?" Jesus replied with a symbolic number meaning "without end." That is the proper way to love our neighbor as ourselves.

To be in the kingdom is to participate in God's solidarity with the poor by sharing with them the good things that have been given to us. In the New Testament the great sin is to be deaf to the cry of the poor whether that cry springs from emotional, material, or spiritual need. Although we cannot help but partake in some degree in social injustice because we live in this world, we must constantly reach out in concrete and practical ways to those in need.

"It’s good to have money and the things money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven’t lost the things that money cannot buy."

Two woodchoppers were in a tree-cutting contest. Both were strong and determined, hoping to win the prize. But one was hardworking and ambitious, chopping down every tree in his path at the fastest pace possible, while the other appeared to be a little more laid back, methodically felling trees and pacing himself.

The go-getter worked all day, skipping his lunch break, expecting that his superior effort would be rewarded. His opponent, however, took an hour-long lunch; then resumed his steady pace.

In the end, the eager ambitious woodcutter was dismayed to lose to his "lazier" competitor. Thinking he deserved to win after his hard work, he finally approached his opponent and said, "I just don’t understand. I worked longer and harder than you, and went hungry to get ahead. You took a break, and yet you still won. It just doesn’t seem fair. Where did I go wrong?"

The winner responded, "While I was taking my lunch break, I was sharpening my axe."

Remember, while earning money, do not neglect spirituality. Both go hand in hand, for a healthy earthly life, but the Spirit will go on and on, even if things go wrong on the earthly matters. Hence, from time to time keep sharpening your AXE. 

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