|
Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Homily Archives | |
 |
26 Sunday in Ordinary Time – C “And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.”When I was in the seminary in Chicago, it was not uncommon to exit off the freeway system and at the bottom of the exit ramp find a person holding a sign that read, “I am homeless. Need money.” I also found the poor were pretty creative. I sometimes saw two people, cleverly washing windshields and asking for donations for their work at the exit ramps. After these people had cleaned the windshields, drivers would give them a buck or two. When I rode the elevated subway system, I commonly encountered a guitar or trumpet player, playing a tune, with their instrument cases sitting in front of them, into which people threw some money their way.
Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. What does this
statement mean to you? Some may think that Jesus was saying that,
since the poor will always be with us, we should continue with our
work and help out only if we can. Jesus is really saying, however,
that the poor will always be with us! Like Lazarus, they are right
outside our doors. The poor are at the end of our driveways. The poor
are on streets when we go to work. The poor are at the end of the
exit ramp, while we are on the way to the mall or to the football
game. The poor we will always have with us; we must choose how we
will respond to their needs. The poor are the Lazaruses of our day and time. Some of these may fit our stereotypes of how we classify the poor, and some of these may not. But we do not need to look far to find Lazarus. Lazarus is the children around the world, who go without food, shelter, or medical care. Lazarus is the homeless, who cannot handle a structured environment, finding it easier to live under the bridge. Lazarus is teenage girls or boys, who are exploited for their bodies or their cheap labor. Lazarus is the elderly, who are preyed upon by scams and get- rich schemes. Lazarus is the veteran, who finds it hard to get care for himself or his family. The Veterans Administration says that, on any given night, 275,000 veterans sleep on the streets. Lazarus is the people, who continue to live in FEMA trailers along the Gulf coast, yet they want to return to a normal pattern of life. Lazarus is those who living in nursing homes, hospitals and even their own homes without anyone to advocate for them. Lazarus is those, who on both sides, struggle with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as these diseases take away the quality of their lives. As we can clearly see, the poor we will always have with us; Lazarus is right outside of our doors, and maybe even in our own homes. We must struggle to remember that every Lazarus is a child of God, a person made in the image and likeness of God, and because of this, he or she possesses substantial value. For this very reason, we cannot ignore Lazarus, even when cloudy issues surround the circumstances of that person’s life. We must work to build respect and love towards that person, who is a gift from God, regardless of his situation. What will it take to bring about this transformation for us, so we can help the Lazaruses of our day? It will take our own conversion. It will take a Metanoia, a change, a confession of sin to lift the darkness from our lives, so that the light of the Spirit can penetrate, helping us to see as Jesus saw. Jesus took the initiative to reach out to the sick, the sinner, the foreigners, the criminal -- to anyone who was on the fringes of society. We are followers of Christ. We must do as Christ did; that is what Christians do. We cannot do anything less then Jesus did. If we do, then can we really call ourselves Christian? The poor we will always have with us, right outside our door. If God cannot act through you and me to care for the Lazaruses among us, then who will God work through to meet their many needs?
sdrose@bellsouth.net |
