Title: Twenty Sixty Sunday, Year C

BEING RICH OR POOR!! A CHOICE?

    A friend of mine needs your Prayers. He is a convert but is now very disturbed by what he hears and reads from the Bible. He finds it difficult to accept that it is the word of God. After His conversion he had read Chapter 28 of the book of Deuteronomy where Fertility, prosperity, and victory in war is promised to those who obey the Lord. To him, his material wealth was a sign of God's Blessing. Max Weber in his Book, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" had observed the same view. How can one Proof that God has Blessed Him or Her? Material well-being was seen as a sign that God has indeed blessed one.

    With this in mind, my friend is challenged very much when he reads, "how hard it is for a rich Person to enter the kingdom of Heaven, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich perison to Enter the Kingdom  of Heaven. Or when he reads this Sunday's reading from the book of Amos and Gospel. He asks, I have worked so hard to get what I have. Why should I expect a dark future?  Does God hate the rich because they are rich? What is wrong with being rich?  And worse Still, Why is the poor man rewarded? What good did he do? Is being poor a virtue? He observed. "The rich man in the gospel did nothing to diserve Hell.  He did not seem to do any harm to the poor Lazarus. He did not drive him away or even use abusive language towards him. As a matter of fact the rich man was quite charitable for he allowed Lazarus to eat any food that fell from his Table and allowed his dogs to leak his wounds (it is said the saliva from dogs is medicinal). On the other hand lazarus never even asked for help. He did not go to hospital. His Relatives are the ones to be blamed. They just brought him and damped him on the rich mans door. No word!!

ARE YOU ASKING YOURSELF SAME QUESTIONS?

The Point of the readings today is not to point a finger on any one. It is not to blame the rich because they are rich, nor to blame the poor because they may be the cause of their poverty. The word of God is calling everyone to know what JUSTICE AND MERCY  means and to practice them. The word of God is calling each one of us to understand the True meaning of LOVE and so to Love as Jesus Loved us. It is a call to understand what a truly Human society means and what Religion means.

Have we thought seriously how rich we are? How have we used the blessings God has given us? One may say I am not rich. But how often have you said "I am Blessed" !! The health you have, the Word of God you have read etc are your wealth. How have you used those blessings to make the life of another person better? Or you have been happy that you pray each day, You read the word of God everyday etc? The prophet Amos says "Woe to the Complacent.... " They committ the sin of Ommission. And Paul's first letter to Timothy gives the quality of a Person of God 1 Timothy 6:11.

Dear brothers and sisters, in our world, there are many social problems affecting both rich and poor alike. Every social problem is a form of deprivation, a denial of full human living and hence poverty in Gospel terms. How aware are we of them and know that we are responsible for their Elimination and do something? Being personally a good Catholic is hardly enough. So at St. Edward's we are challenged in all sides. The violence and crime in our neighborhoods, the Homelessness surrounded by boarded houses, trash and unactractive noises are all a loud voice from God that we do not sit or sing or pray comfortably in this Church but have solidarity with others to make a difference.

In the last two sundays the Lord has spoken to us about the importance of having the right relationship material things and the right relationship with God. How do we use the little or the much we have for the Greater glory of God? I have heard one person say "I have worked hard to earn my money and I have the right to use my money the way I like". Well that is not true. All we have is a gift to us from God. We came to the world without nothing and many people have made it possible for us to have what we have. So we have to use that for the Common good and thus for the Kingdom of God.

The problem with our rich man in the Gospel is that he continues to be Selfish even in Hell. He is think about the salvation of his immediate family only. Christ came to Save the world. So if someone was to be sent from Heaven, they will come for everyone and not only one family. Actually Jesus already rose from the dead and showed us the way to the Father. Let us listen to Him. Today we are called to go again beyound ourselves. Let us look at the International scene. Why is it still a fact today that despite all the help that has been given to the poor countries they continue to remain poor? Why is it true that the Donor countries continue to be richer? Is something seriously not right?

Jesus is empowering each one of us today. We have celebrated the Eucharist . It is a holy Fellowship. It is the body of Christ broaken so that all can share. We are being sent from this Altar of the Eucharist (A world as it Should be) to the Altar of our neighborhoods (the world as is) to meet the Lazarus and the richman there. What difference will we make in such a meeting?

"Though the Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich"  2Cor. 8:9  

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