Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #192 092725: Listening When It Matters: The Rich Man, Lazarus, and a Call to Mercy

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Good News #192 092725: Listening When It Matters: The Rich Man, Lazarus, and a Call to Mercy · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
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teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
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lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
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And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
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Good evening, and welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy, a permanent deacon of the Peoria Diocese.
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Happy to have you all with us tonight.
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We're going to be speaking about the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ,
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as shared with us at this weekend's Mass on the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
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I like this gospel, especially.
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It has some moments in there that are very important to me.
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I've always enjoyed this gospel, and I think there's a lot of material there
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for us to think about, contemplate, pray about.
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But first, let's talk about the week. So, as you know, we invite everyone to send in questions.
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To our mailbag at Good News at Catholic Spirit Radio, and we don't get very
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many people writing in at all.
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That's not that unusual, but I do enjoy apologetics.
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I enjoy talking about the faith, explaining the faith, and so I get to stretch
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my apologetic muscles on the internet.
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Now, there's some discussion groups on religion that I like to take part in.
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They're pretty good, but they're starting to really annoy me. I've got to tell you.
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One reason is a lot of questions on various, not just Catholicism,
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but on Christianity and Judaism.
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And it talks about all the different religions.
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And there's a lot of good questions being asked, especially questions about
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the Protestant faith, questions that make sense to ask.
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You know, one of them this week was, how often does the Protestant church celebrate communion?
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And do they all celebrate communion? I think it's a really good question.
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My problem is that 80% of the questions about Catholicism are antagonistic.
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They're very accusative, and oftentimes they're based on absolute mythology.
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You know, parts about why do you worship idols?
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We don't. Why do you take part in cannibalism in the communion?
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We don't. And I'm not sure that these are even questions from non-Catholics.
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I think a lot of this is just internet trolls.
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So I tend not to answer those. One question that came up this week,
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which really kind of irked me for a couple of reasons.
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And the question was, I wrote it down because I thought it was kind of interesting.
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What arguments do Catholics use to defend keeping the Mass similar to early
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Christian worship, despite changes in society?
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And I'm thinking, not just how do we defend it, why?
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Who do I have to defend the mass to?
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If you don't like the mass, don't take part in it.
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If you don't understand the mass, ask questions about it.
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But to assume that I have to defend it for some reason or anyone has to defend it?
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No, there's nothing to defend. The mass is our mass.
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Whether it changes or not, there's no need. for us to defend it.
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I can explain it, happy to explain the parts of it. It's a beautiful worship service.
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But anyway, it's things like that that just kind of grind on me,
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because these are questions that are based on mythology. They're based on falsehoods.
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So before you start assuming that you know what the Catholic faith is,
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a good place to start is asking, what does the Catholic Church say about this?
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What do they actually teach about this?
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And that's very few of the questions we get, very few of the questions that the Catholics get.
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One on there was, and this shows me that these aren't even Christians who are asking the question.
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One of the questions was, why do we, meaning the writer is including themselves
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in this grouping, this collective,
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why do we make the sign of the cross before and after the homily during the Mass?
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So, you know what this question tells me? This person hasn't been to a Mass.
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This is not someone who's Catholic. And why are they saying we as if including themselves?
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Because we don't do that. I mean, there's been a couple of occasions where the
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deacon or the priest might end their homily as a prayer with the sign of the
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cross, and then we would respond that way.
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But it's not really part of the Mass.
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We make the sign of the cross before the gospel.
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Actually, we make three signs of the cross, one on our head,
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one on our lips, and one on our heart.
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And this is to remind us to keep the Word of God in our thoughts,
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on our lips, in our heart.
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But we don't make the sign of the cross after. We don't make it as part of the homily.
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So why would someone pretend to be Catholic?
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If they have a question, why not just ask, when in the Mass do you make the
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sign of the cross? Because it's several times.
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But that wasn't the question. So I guess what I'm saying, if you're going to
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take part in the Internet.
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Especially either for study or to answer questions, be very careful.
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Because it's a jungle out there.
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I mean, it's just a mess.
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People pretend to be things they aren't. People pretend to know about things
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that they don't know about.
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And so much of it is what's called the vincible ignorance. Ignorance comes in many flavors.
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There are things we don't know because they can't be known.
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There are things we don't know because we've never learned about them.
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There are things we don't know because we don't need to learn about them.
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I know nothing about the details of brain surgery because I never intend to
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do that, right? So I don't need to know.
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So I'm ignorant about brain surgery because I don't need to know about it.
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But then there are things that we don't know that we easily could know.
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I mean, there's a lot of things that you can look up on the internet,
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in a book, talk to an expert.
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There are a lot of things you could learn to know if you made the effort.
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But so many people on the internet are ignorant about really common,
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simple things that are easy to find resources on.
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And they're asking strangers on the internet about it. I mean,
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people with personal problems.
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And there are people on one of the websites on religion asking if they should divorce their spouse.
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Now, I'm sorry, if I was considering something that drastic,
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would I ask, would I just stop somebody on the street and say,
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hey, you think I should get a divorce?
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I mean, that's basically what you're doing on the internet when you ask those kinds of things.
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It's just, be very careful. The internet's a mess. It really is.
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There's more bad information on the internet than there is good.
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And now with AI, making stuff up.
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A machine that has no life experience, just making stuff up, just unbelievable.
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And people say, well, it's on the internet, got to be true.
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That was one of my favorite quotes from the internet was, if it's on the internet,
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it has to be true. And it's signed Abraham Lincoln.
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You know, it's just, guys, the internet's a mess.
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There are so many better sources of information on so many things.
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I'm not saying the internet's completely a waste of time.
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I'm just saying, you have to be really, really careful, because it can be very,
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very fallacious, and it's just a mess. There's no real regulation.
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There's no way to tell what a person's real knowledge base is on a subject.
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I mean, I've read posts from people who've claimed to be theologians and biblical
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scholars and even clergy, and you can just tell by the question.
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They have no background at all in this.
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They've just, I mean, you can just type whatever you want.
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I could type Pope on the end of my name if I wanted, you know,
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and there are people out there going, oh, look, there's a Pope,
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there's a Pope Al. Well, you know, it's just, I don't know, it's just insane.
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So I still check these out every now and then, because every now and then there's a good question.
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Like two out of ten have a really sincere
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question and really want to know something and happy to explain it.
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I especially like good questions from non-Catholics.
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Someone who's really curious, who's not sure if what they've learned is true
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or what they've heard about Catholicism is true, and they just want to hear the truth.
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I love those kind of questions, but man, there's just not enough of them.
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Anyway, off my soapbox. Other than that, week's gone good, a lot of stuff going on at church.
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We're getting ready to do some landscaping that I'm involved in,
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and I enjoy that a lot at home as well as at church.
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But yeah, we're about to beautify the grounds at our parish center and our church.
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And within the next couple of weeks, the new plants will be in and the new trees,
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and it's going to be very exciting.
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And we've just got, we're training new altar servers. Next month,
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we're training new lectors.
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We've just got bunches of stuff going on. And today, tonight after Mass and
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Sunday after Mass, I'll be outside with my brother Nights in my yellow vest selling Tootsie Rolls.
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Actually, exchanging Tootsie Rolls for a donation to help the intellectually disabled.
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And so nice act of charity that the Knights take part in every year.
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I forget how long they've been doing Tootsie Roll sales, but it's been a long time, long, long time.
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So thanks to those of you who have been donating to that cause.
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It's a wonderful act of charity.
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And charity is something we're going to be talking about this weekend on the
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26th Sunday in Ordinary Times. So we'll take a short break.
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When we come back, we'll look at the readings from this weekend's Mass.
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You're listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio. Stay tuned.
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Welcome back to Good News. I am Deacon Al, and happy to have you with us.
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So we're looking at the readings from the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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Oh my gosh, we are like 90 days from Christmas.
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That's that's just phenomenal i mean the the year has just gone so so quickly
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so we have a reading from the prophet amos for the old testament reading a letter
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from paul to timothy for our new testament reading and then we are still in
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the gospel according to luke we get to the gospel,
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The very last line's my favorite. So, the gospel, I'll give you a little head start on it.
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Jesus is lecturing the Pharisees, and they're not paying any attention to him.
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So, he tells them a story about what happens when you don't pay attention to God.
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And the last line is my favorite. And it says, if they'll not listen to Moses
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and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.
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Really knocking home to them what's about to happen, and they are clueless. absolutely clueless.
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And even after it happens, they're still clueless.
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All right. A reading from the book of the prophet Amos.
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Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, woe to the complacent in Zion,
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lying upon beds of ivory stretched comfortably on their couches.
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They eat lambs taken from the flock and calves from the stall,
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improvising to the music of the harp like David.
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They devise their own accompaniment. They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils.
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Yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph.
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Therefore, now they will be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry
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shall be done away with. The word of the Lord.
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It's just reminding us that you can live as luxuriously as you want now,
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but eventually, you have to pay for that.
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Eventually, there will be the comeuppance.
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There will be the judgment. and you will be judged for how you lived in this life.
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Our second reading is from the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy.
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Paul writes, But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion,
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faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
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Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life to which you were called
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when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.
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I charge you before God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus,
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who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession,
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to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time the King
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of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable
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light, and whom no human being has seen or can see.
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To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
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So Paul's reminding Timothy that he's taken an oath now to be a bishop,
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to be the caretaker, the shepherd of some of these churches that Paul has begun,
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some of these Catholic churches.
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And he's reminding Timothy of his charge and the fact that he owes his responsibility
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not to the world, not to other men, but to God himself, and that he needs to
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behave in a way that's Christlike.
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Patience, love, gentleness, devotion. He's calling him to be true to his faith
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no matter what goes on in the secular world around him, and reminds him that
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he has but one master, and it's not Paul.
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Timothy is a respondent to Christ, and only to Christ, for good reason,
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because he is the one sole authority over the earth and over the church.
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So, our gospel, our gospels from Luke.
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And as they say it, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees. Jesus said to the Pharisees,
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There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.
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And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
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who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table.
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Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. Then the poor man died,
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and he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
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The rich man also died and was buried.
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And from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw
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Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side.
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And he cried out, Father Abraham, have pity on me.
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Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue,
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for I am suffering torment in these flames.
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Abraham replied, My child, remember that you received what was good during your
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lifetime, while Lazarus likewise received what was bad.
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But now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
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Moreover, between us and you, a great chasm has been established to prevent
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anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.
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He said, Then I beg you, Father, send him to my father's house,
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for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.
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But Abraham replied, They have Moses and the prophets.
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Let them listen to them.
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And he said, Oh no, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.
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Then Abraham said, If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
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neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead. The Gospel of the Lord.
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Now, as it happens, I am homilist this weekend at one of the parishes I serve.
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And so my homily is on this very gospel.
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And I don't often get to use my homilies as part of the program,
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but I thought I would this time because my wife said it's very good and I trust her.
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So, she didn't like the opening, by the way. I'll share that,
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but I kept it because I like the opening.
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Early today, my wife and I had an argument.
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She says I never listened to her.
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Eliseth, I think that's what she said. I wasn't really listening.
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Now, I know that's an old joke, but it seems to be much older than I thought
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as it appears to be part of today's parable in our gospel reading.
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This Sunday, we're presented with the famous parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
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In a previous verse, Luke tells us that Jesus was addressing the Pharisees whom
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Luke writes in verse 14 and 15, the Pharisees who loved money,
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heard all these things and sneered at him.
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And he said to them, you justify yourselves in the sight of others,
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but God knows your hearts.
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For what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.
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And that's what led Jesus into this parable.
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He's trying to teach the Pharisees something, and they hear him,
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but they're just not listening.
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The rich man's problem is the same as the Pharisees, it's not that they're wealthy.
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Being wealthy is not a sin. It does not separate one from the love of God.
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The rich man and the Pharisees' problem is that they just didn't listen.
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They didn't listen to Moses. They didn't listen to the prophets.
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The wealthy man didn't pay attention to the signs that God put directly in front of him.
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The Pharisees aren't listening to Christ, God incarnate.
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The first thing that struck me is that the rich man doesn't have a name.
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Rather, he's known only for his immense riches that enable him to give splendid banquets each day.
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He also wears expensive clothes that highlight his social position and wealth.
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Purple was a costly, long-lasting dye produced from sea snails.
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And the best linen used to come directly from Egypt.
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This was the royal clothing worn by monarchs. So in a certain sense,
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the rich man represents anonymously all wealthy persons and societies.
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But the poor man in the parable does have a name.
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He is a specific person for Jesus, who calls him very appropriately Lazarus,
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the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, which means God has helped.
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Lazarus represents every person who is needy or who suffers unjustly.
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He also brings to mind Lazarus from Bethany, the sick friend of Jesus' who he
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raised from the dead, and who St.
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John tells us the Pharisees wanted to kill.
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Jesus employs some well-known concepts from Judaism, in that the narrative's
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main concern doesn't seem to be to describe the heaven or hell,
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but to underline two things.
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The immortality of the soul, and the justice of divine retribution for all.
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The rich man ends up badly and is condemned to Hades.
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St. John Chrysostom says he wasn't suffering torment because he had been rich,
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but because he hadn't been merciful.
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He values his wealth only for his own benefit and status.
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He is a poor steward of his resources.
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Last week's gospel tells us that you cannot serve both God and mammon.
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In today's parable, we see the consequences of that.
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Suffering greatly, the rich man asks Abraham to warn his brothers of the punishment
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awaiting them by sending a clearer message than simply the Scriptures.
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In fact, the rich man had been unable to see the very visible sign that God
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placed right in front of his door each day, the sick and hungry poor man who
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only the dogs approached to lick his wounds.
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Even now, the wealthy man sees Lazarus as beneath him and only good for serving
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the needs of the rich man.
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Hence, he deserved to be punished.
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Jesus tells the clueless Pharisees that they won't obey God even if a person
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were to rise up from the dead.
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Jesus is that man on the doorstep. God has sent as a sign, and yet the Pharisees aren't listening.
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Jesus thus highlights the danger that threatens every one of us,
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and especially those who possess abundant material goods, that of indifference
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towards their fellow men and women, and towards those who are suffering.
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This danger especially affects what Pope Francis described as a throwaway culture,
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a culture that today surrounds us daily.
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The parable encourages us to live in a personal and collective way the works of mercy.
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To the extent of our abilities, we need to strive to remedy human suffering,
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which extends not only to material
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poverty, but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.
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Gregory the Great insists that we give to the poor what is essential for them.
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We are not doing them a personal favor, but rather restoring to them what is theirs.
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More than an act of charity, we are fulfilling a duty of justice.
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Are we listening? We have the same warnings from Jesus and the prophets that
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Jesus refers to in the parable in today's gospel.
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Are we using our wealth and resources only for ourselves?
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Or are we mindful stewards of the gifts that God has allowed us in this life?
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Perhaps you're not the rich man in the parable, but you're Lazarus.
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Remember that God is with you always, even in the silence. Do not lose heart or your trust in God.
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Remember Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.
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Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the weak,
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they will inherit the land.
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Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean
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of heart, for they will see God.
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
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And blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
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for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind
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of evil against you falsely because of me.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
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Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Lazarus' eloquent and trusting silence in our parable, invites us to be faithful
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and to trust in God, even in the most difficult times.
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Today, let us pray for those with an abundance of resources,
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that they have hearts of love for those in need.
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Let us pray for those in need, that they not lose their hope in God through
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the selfishness of others.
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And let us pray for ourselves, that through the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
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we have the wisdom to truly listen and to follow Jesus' command to love God
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and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
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Until next weekend, may Almighty God bless you, protect you from all evil,
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and bring you to everlasting life.
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Amen. You've been listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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