Sunday Meditation: The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man

On the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C, we hear Jesus tell us the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.  Have you ever passed a beggar on the street without even thinking about him?  I know I have.  Three years ago I mentioned how this parable convicts.   Sure we are to use our prudential judgement when handing out money to beggars, but often that is just an excuse.  Three years ago I mentioned how the rich man is in hell without committing an actual physical sin.  His sin is of omission, and yes that can be just as grave as any consciously committed sin.  Some other things to point out this time around.  Lazarus is in heaven for not necessarily doing anything of good.  He is just in heaven because he suffered.  In some ways, this parable is a fulfillment of the Job’s suffering in the Book of Job.  Another observation is that Lazarus is a Christ figure having undergone his own passion.

Here is the Gospel passage.

 

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.'"

~Lk 16:19-31

 

Dr. Brant Pitre explains the passage.

Love of neighbor requires compassion for those who are struggling, and compassion requires some commission (as opposed to omission) of generosity. 

The pastoral homily I found most interesting was that from Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Detroit.  The tables have turned.

Another thing that is interesting to me is that Jesus is speaking this directly to the Pharisees.  I like that the Archbishop gives this challenge to archbishops as well.

 

Sunday Meditation: “'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot for today’s hymn with “The Cry of the Poor.”

 

“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.”

Sunday Meditation: The Good Samaritan

For the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year C, we come to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  You know this parable quite well I suspect, mainly because as Moses says in the first reading, the moral is written in your heart.  You have heard the parable and it connects with the law written in your heart.

 

 

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?

How do you read it?"

He said in reply,

"You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your being,

with all your strength,

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself."

He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;

do this and you will live."

 

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,

"And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus replied,

"A man fell victim to robbers

as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.

A priest happened to be going down that road,

but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.

Likewise a Levite came to the place,

and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.

But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him

was moved with compassion at the sight.

He approached the victim,

poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.

Then he lifted him up on his own animal,

took him to an inn, and cared for him.

The next day he took out two silver coins

and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,

'Take care of him.

If you spend more than what I have given you,

I shall repay you on my way back.'

Which of these three, in your opinion,

was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"

He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy."

Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

   ~Lk 10:25-37

 

Since you know the parable so well, I am going to provide a homily that provides the allegorical interpretation.  This is Fr. Ryan Murphy E.P. of the Heralds of the Gospel, which is not a religious order but a religious association.  You can read about them here. 

 

So the wounded man is analogous to Adam, the oil and wine to the sacraments, the Good Samaritan to Jesus, and the Inn the Catholic Church.  An interesting reading.

This is one of the best pastoral homilies you will ever hear.  Fr. Mike Schmitz hits a homerun ith this.  You will not want to miss this.

That study at Princeton was mind blowing.  I totally relate to those students.  “When we rationalize, we wind up telling ourselves rational lies.”  Remember that!

 

 

Sunday Meditation: "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."

 

 

No hymn today, just a dramatization of the parable by the Jesus Film.

 

They took liberties but I love the touch of the little girl speaking the moral at the end.

 

Sunday Meditation: Tragedy and Still Bearing Fruit

On the First Sunday of Lent, we saw Jesus meet the Devil in the desert as He underwent temptations.  On the Second Sunday, we saw Jesus go up a mountain and be transfigured before three of His disciples.  So one comes to the Third Sunday of Lent expecting an even greater scene, but what we get is a simple parable of the fig tree.  That would strike us as a letdown.  But Jesus prefaces the parable with two monumental events: Pilate butchering some Galileans at the Temple and the collapse of a tower killing eighteen people.  What’s the connection?  It’s a very Lenten connection.

 

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans

whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

Jesus said to them in reply,

“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way

they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

By no means!

But I tell you, if you do not repent,

you will all perish as they did!

Or those eighteen people who were killed

when the tower at Siloam fell on them—

do you think they were more guilty

than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?

By no means!

But I tell you, if you do not repent,

you will all perish as they did!”

 

And he told them this parable:

“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,

and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,

he said to the gardener,

‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree

but have found none.

So cut it down.

Why should it exhaust the soil?’

He said to him in reply,

‘Sir, leave it for this year also,

and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;

it may bear fruit in the future.

If not you can cut it down.’”

~Lk 13:1-9

What really catches my eye on this passage are the two tragedies that Jesus alludes to.  I can’t say I ever really noticed them before.  First He says that the sins of those who met the tragic ends were not the cause of the tragedy.  And then He implores everyone to repent of their sins.  Is this a contradiction?  Fr. Tim Peters in his Catholic Bible Studies explains.

Untimely death can cause you to be perished if you have not repented.  So which is the real tragedy, the catastrophic death or the forever separated from God?  I hadn’t posted Fr. Tim before, but I really like his Bible Studies.

Here is another priest I have not posted before for the pastoral homily, Fr. Eric De La Pena, a Franciscan Friar of the Companions of St. Anthony.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.”

 

 

Instead of a hymn, I want to share this short homily by Fr. Vincent Bernhard who provides another great insight on this rich Gospel passage. 

 

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving tends to the ground which will bear fruit. 

Sunday Meditation: The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

Today we come to the end of the calendar year, with the Feast of Christ the King, and Year A ends with Matthew’s stirring Parable of the Sheep and Goats.  This parable has always convicted me.  It is one of my favorite passages in the entire New Testament,

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,

and all the angels with him,

he will sit upon his glorious throne,

and all the nations will be assembled before him.

And he will separate them one from another,

as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the king will say to those on his right,

'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

a stranger and you welcomed me,

naked and you clothed me,

ill and you cared for me,

in prison and you visited me.'

Then the righteous will answer him and say,

'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,

or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,

or naked and clothe you?

When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'

And the king will say to them in reply,

'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did

for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left,

'Depart from me, you accursed,

into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

a stranger and you gave me no welcome,

naked and you gave me no clothing,

ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'

Then they will answer and say,

'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty

or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,

and not minister to your needs?'

He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,

what you did not do for one of these least ones,

you did not do for me.'

And these will go off to eternal punishment,

but the righteous to eternal life."

~Mt 25:31-46

Why is this parable so convicting?  Do we identify with the sheep or with the goats?  If we identify with the sheep, there is no need for conviction because we superciliously stand lacking perfection.  If we identify with the goats, we have lost all sense of needing Christ.  I think the parable is so convicting because we are in tension between the two, fearful of our lack of perfection but with a heart striving to want to be perfected in Christ. 

This Sunday’s Gospel is fully explained by Fr. Geoffrey Plant. 

 

Several years ago I went through Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical, Quas primas explaining the institution of the Solemnity of Christ the King.  It’s worth a relook. 

Meditation: "'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'”

As a bonus, I offer this Hymn to Christ the King by Sarah Hart.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Parable of the Talents

This week Jesus continues his fifth discourse in Matthew’s Gospel, now with the Parable of the Talents.  This is certainly a difficult one, but remember the parables have a twist to them that is outside logic.

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"A man going on a journey

called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.

To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one--

to each according to his ability.

Then he went away.

Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five.

Likewise, the one who received two made another two.

But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money.

 

"After a long time

the master of those servants came back

and settled accounts with them.

The one who had received five talents came forward

bringing the additional five.

He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents.

See, I have made five more.'

His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Since you were faithful in small matters,

I will give you great responsibilities.

Come, share your master's joy.'

Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents.

See, I have made two more.'

His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Since you were faithful in small matters,

I will give you great responsibilities.

Come, share your master's joy.'

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person,

harvesting where you did not plant

and gathering where you did not scatter;

so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.

Here it is back.'

His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant!

So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant

and gather where I did not scatter?

Should you not then have put my money in the bank

so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?

Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.

For to everyone who has,

more will be given and he will grow rich;

but from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away.

And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"

~Mt 25:14-30

One thought I always have every time I read this parable is, ‘did they have banks back then?”  I don’t really know.  The third servant justifies his in action “out of fear.”  But the master doesn’t accept that.  He calls him “lazy” and more importantly “wicked.”  He certainly was lazy but why wicked?  Dr. Brant Pitre explains the best again.

 

Dr. Pitre is the best!  So the third servant calls the master a thief.  That’s not smart.  I had never picked up on that before.  I wonder how many others have.  Have you?

Meditation: "Come, share your master's joy."

Sunday Meditation: Will You Be Prepared?

I said last week was the beginning of Jesus’s final discourse in Matthew’s Gospel, but last week He was speaking to the Pharisees and scribes but here He is speaking to His disciples.  So does is the discourse intended for the disciples?  I'm not really sure.  If so, this Sunday begins the fifth discourse. 

Have you ever been a groomsman or a bridesmaid in a wedding?  Then you might identify with this parable.  The most important thing for a groomsman or a bridesmaid to remember is to be prepared.  All ten virgins waiting for the groom fall asleep but five wake up prepared and five don’t.

 

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins

who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,

brought no oil with them,

but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.

Since the bridegroom was long delayed,

they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, there was a cry,

'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish ones said to the wise,

'Give us some of your oil,

for our lamps are going out.'

But the wise ones replied,

'No, for there may not be enough for us and you.

Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.'

While they went off to buy it,

the bridegroom came

and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.

Then the door was locked.

Afterwards the other virgins came and said,

'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'

But he said in reply,

'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'

Therefore, stay awake,

for you know neither the day nor the hour."

~Mt 23:1-12

 

Why doesn’t the bridegroom know the foolish virgins?  Dr. Brant Pitre explains this through the ancient custom of first century Jewish wedding customs.

 

Given Jesus is really referring to being let into heaven, you better make sure you have oil always at hand for your lamp. 

Meditation: "Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."