XXVI Sunday in OT[C]:Amos 6:1,4-7;1Tim6:11-16;Lk16:19-31

XXVI Sunday in OT[C]:Amos 6:1,4-7;1Tim6:11-16;Lk16:19-31

Introduction:  The main theme of this Sunday is the warning that selfish and extravagant use of God’s blessings like wealth without sharing it with the poor and the needy is a serious sin deserving eternal punishment. Today’s readings stress the covenant responsibility of the rich for the poor reminding us the truth that wealth without active mercy for the poor is great wickedness.

Anecdote:  A nine year old child entered an ice-cream shop and asked how much is for a cup of ice-cream.   The waiter said: “fifteen dollars” Then the child took all his money from his pocket and counted.  Then asked again to the waiter: “how much is for a small cup ice-cream?”  The waiter lost patience and got angry and with a loud voice said: “Twelve Dollars.” Child ordered small cup. He sat, ate the ice-cream, paid the bill and left the shop.  As the waiter went to take the empty plate and cup at the child’s seat, his eyes filled with tears as he saw that the child has given 3dollars tip.  This is life.  Make others also happy with what you have.

Exegesis: People in Jesus’ time would dip into stew pots with bread, bite off what they wanted and just throw whatever was left onto the floor. Lazarus longed to eat the scraps that fell from the Rich Man’s table.  Lazarus wasn’t even given these scraps.  The dogs got them.  And then the dogs went outside and licked Lazarus’ sores.  The Rich Man never saw this.  He never saw Lazarus, as a fellow human being. His possessions made him blind to those around him.  The first time that the Rich Man really saw Lazarus as a person, not as an eyesore, was when it was too late.  From Hell the Rich Man looked up and saw Lazarus.

Amos in the first reading issues a powerful warning to those who seek wealth at the expense of the poor and who spend their time and their money on themselves. The angry prophet prophecies that those rich and unsympathetic people in the Southern kingdom of Judah will be punished by God with exile because they don’t care for their poor and suffering brothers in the North.  The Psalm praises Yahweh, who cares for the poor. In the second reading, Paul admonishes us to "pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness" – noble goals in an age of disillusionment – rather than riches. In today’s gospel Jesus warns us pointing to the destiny of the rich man who neglected his duty to show mercy to poor Lazarus. The rich man's punishment was not for having riches, but for neglecting the Scriptures and what they taught and thereby the poor.

Joke:  The teacher said; “Take a pencil and paper, and write an essay with the title ‘If I Were a Millionaire.’”

Everyone but Joe, who leaned back with arms folded, began to write feverishly.
“What’s the matter,” the teacher asked. “Why don’t you begin?”

“I’m waiting for my secretary,” Joe replied.

Practical Applications: 1) We are all rich enough to share our blessings with others.  God has blessed each one of us with wealth or health or special talents or social power or political influence or a combination of many blessings. Share it.

2) Remember that sharing is the criterion of Last Judgment: Matthew (25: 31ff) tells us that all the six questions to be asked to each one of us by Jesus who comes in glory as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings from him  (food, drink, home, mercy and compassion), with others.

3) Do not pretend to be blind to poor and needy. Rich never saw Lazarus, as a fellow human being. His possessions made him blind to those around him.  The first time that the Rich Man really saw Lazarus as a person, not as an eyesore, was when it was too late. 

4) Our choices here determine the kind of eternity we will have. It has been put this way: "Where we go hereafter depends on what we go after, here." Where we will arrive depends on what road we travel. We get what we choose, what we live for. We are shaping our moral character to fit one of two places.

Introduction:  (XXVI)Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Message:  Amos condemns the complacency of the rich who seek only their own comfort.  In his parable about the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus echoes Amos, exhorting those who have to share with those who have not.  Self-sufficiency must never blind us to the needs of others.  Only in this way do we keep God’s commandments in integrity and in truth.

Saints and Events in this week:  30-Monday-Saint Jerome, priest, doctor of the Church; 1-October-Tuesday-Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, doctor; 2-Wednesday-The Holy Guardian Angels; 4-Friday-Saint Francis of Assisi