26 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  - C - 2022

·          Amos keeps inviting us to live in justice and compassion towards our sisters and brothers less fortunate. 

·         We will listen to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This parable like the words of Amos urge us to take seriously the matter of justice in our relationships. 

·         The author of the letter to Timothy   tells him how to behave as a follower of Jesus

 

FIRTS READING  Amos  6:1a. 4-7

ü  This reading is taken from the "woes' section" called also "lamentations"  in chapter 5 and 6. 

ü  The reading gives us the third woe. 

ü   If we did not know that we are reading something related to many centuries ago, we would think that the prophet is speaking of our own time and society. 

ü  Amos tells the powerful, the rich men that they live in the opulence and that they are not sensitive to the suffering of those who lack almost everything. 

ü  He gives a very vivid description: they participate in banquets, they sing, they dance... in a word they do nothing useful, only enjoying themselves. 

ü  They take advantage of those who lack almost everything, and they, the rich, take from them the little they have, or they do not give to them their salary. 

ü  The consequences of this empty and selfish life will be great. When the Assyrians come, they will be the first to be deported. This was the policy of the Assyrians, to take the powerful from their own nation, so that they could not organize a revolt. However, they were leaving the poor of the land to care for it. 

ü  It is not difficult to see something similar in our society today.   We are continually invited to spend the little we have in futile things for the profit of the business owners.   We are offered continually "sales" or "two for the price of one," or they make us believe that "we can buy without paying now and without interest..." 

ü  In a word, they play with our sinful inclination to possess more and more without effort, to spent money without thinking....  

ü  However, I do not think that we have to look only to the world of opulence, of the businesses etc... the readings invites all of us to look at our own life and see if there is something in it similar  to what the prophet describes. 

ü  The great sin of all those Amos is describing in his oracle, and also of the rich man of the parable of Luke is the "indifference" in front of the suffering and the need of whole countries, whole continents… that are deprived almost of everything for their lives.   

RESPONSORIAL  PSALM . Ps 146  7,8-9,9-10     

R.  Praise the Lord, my soul!
 Blessed he who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
 The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

ü  This psalm sings the good works the Lord God does for us

§  The Lord gives sight to the blind

§  Raises those who are bowed down

§  He gives food to the hungry

§  He sets captives free.  

ü  The Lord liberates us from all that harm and destroy us. 

GOSPEL  Lk 16: 19-31

      Before we begin to analyze this parable, let us look at what comes before it in chapter 16 of the Gospel of Luke. 

      The reason to do so is that the Gospels have an inner order through which the author wants to help us to understand the message. 

      Chapter 16 of Luke begins with the parable of the "dishonest steward” then comes the words addressed to the Pharisees, who loved money and power.   

      In a word, we may say that this is a chapter on the need to use money justly. 

      Let us see now the parable 

§  It is a story we know very well, the story of two human beings  

§  One is rich but does not have a name, his life is empty, and Luke says that not giving him a name.  

§  The other man has a name in spite of being a "nobody" for the rich man who does not even see him. He only realizes that Lazarus exists when he needs him, when he wants to use him for his convenience.  

§  This man is called Lazarus = Eliezer which means, "God helps", what a beautiful name the name of this beggar, and certainly God helps.      

§  The sin of the rich man is not that he abuses the poor man or takes advantage of him, not even a sin of "social injustice", but a sin of "indifference"  He does not see the poor man, he does not feel his needs, he is totally indifferent.   

§  The human beings do not help the poor man full of sores, but the dogs, those dogs that are as homeless as he is, take care of his wounds.

§  These two men die as everybody does. None of us takes anything when we die neither the riches, nor the sores... nothing. In that moment, we are all equals, simple human beings poor and naked before our Creator and Father.

§  I have heard yesterday something very interesting in this respect in relation to the funeral and burial of Queen Elisabeth of England recently deceased. There was an ancient tradition, which they do not do anymore: when the coffin of the monarch arrived at the door of the cathedral that were locked, one of the bearers would knock and from the inside someone will ask “who are you?”   He will answer Elisabeth queen for so many years, serving so many countries. The answer was “I do not know you.”

A second time the same question “who are you” and the answer was Elisabet daughter of king so and so, wife of … queen of England and of…. “ I do not know you.”

A third time the question was “who are you?” the answer was I am Elisabet daughter of God. “Come in I know you”.

This is a tradition that illustrates what we have said, when we die, we are all equal, naked, poor, defenseless, loved and welcomed by our Father God. I think that this welcome of God who covers our nakedness can be symbolized by the white clothe with which the priest covers the coffin.

§  The fate these two men changes immediately: the rich man is buried, why do they tell us something that is so normal to be buried? Because he is buried in the abyss of the dead, he is forgotten forever, nobody remembers him. 

§  The poor man is taken to the bosom of Abraham, which is the image of peace and consolation reserved for those who die in the Lord, who will enjoy happiness for all eternity. 

§  The reaction of the rich man, as Luke describes it, is very interesting. On one side, he is as selfish as always "tell Lazarus to come to alleviate my suffering..." on the other side, he is able to act moved by love for his brothers.   

§  The words of Abraham make us think. "Between you and us there is a great chasm that nobody can cross." 

§  Maybe this is the best description of what happens between selfishness and unconditional love. 

§  This parable does not need more explanation, let us enter into our heart and let us see in it how much of the rich man we have and how much of the poor. From there let us make our own reflection.   

SECOND READING  1 Tm 6:11-16

v  The author of the letter continues to tell Timothy how to behave as a man of God called to the pastoral ministry. 

v  He invites Timothy to live according to the commandments and, to exhort him to do it he reminds him that Jesus gave witness in front of Pilate. 

v  We know that because of this witnessing, he died, but his death was redeeming us.  

v  It is an invitation to Timothy to live a good life. 

v  Until Christ, the Lord of Lords comes again.  

v  His, is the honor and glory.

CLARETIAN CORNER

The Mother Foundress has a personal knowledge of the needs of a particular Church, the Spanish One; but God Our Lord raises her to the knowledge of the needs of the universal Church: 

Here he put all the Religious Orders before me again and made me see the deplorable state of the whole universal Church... (Aut. 88). 

Now, God has not called Mother Marie Antonia Paris to entrust her with a message destined only to others ("go and tell them"), but a message that is first directed to herself; and then to other people who must continue their own task or mission. 

She begins by adopting a new attitude before  God who manifests himself to her: it is an attitude of unconditional readiness to accept and fulfill the task that God entrusts to her. It is not the attitude of the prophet to whom he says, "Go and tell them"; and consequently, despite the difficulties, he will convey the oracle of the Lord; but the attitude of the one who says, "What do you want me to do" "Here I am". She is "available" to fulfill the mission entrusted to her, at any price, even at the cost of her own life 

I offered my life to him in sacrifice as I had done before (Aut. 2) 

3.2.2  The objections 

Before the mission that God entrusts him, the chosen one experiences himself as absolutely incapable of carrying it out: he sees a contradiction between what he is and the specificity of the mission: "I am a stutterer"; "I am the smallest of my family "; "I am of impure lips"But in reality it is not a real objection or rejection of the mission received from God, but rather information, that the one who is called feels his unability to fulfill the mission. It is not a real objection or rejection.

In the case of the Maria Antonia, the objection is, in effect,  information about her personal limitations. She declares herself absolutely available, but sees herself incapable of carrying out the mission that God has entrusted to her:: 

...well persuaded that my life was of no value to satisfy so many evils ; but as I had no virtues in me to offer him, I begged him to deign to teach me what to do to give him pleasure and glory fulfilling his most holy will (Aut.3).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALVAREZ GOMEZ, Jesús, cmf. LA VISION INICIAL.  

CHAMBERLAND, Yves. “Lazare ne viendra pas”en la Revista Prions en Église, Septiembre 2019. 

JENSEN, Joseph. Ethical Dimension of the Prophets. Collegeville, Minnesota  2006. 

PAGOLA, José A.  Following in the Footsteps of Jesus. Meditations on the Gospels for Year C.   

RAVASI, Gianfranco, Según las Escrituras, Año C.

SCHÖKEL, Luis Alonso, Comentario a La Biblia de nuestro Pueblo