29 September 2019 - a most distressing disguise

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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.

Who are the poor lying at our door? Whom do we step over on our way to things that we imagine to be more important? We have nice garments and dine well enough each day. We do have more in common with the rich man than with Lazarus in terms of possessions.

Lying upon beds of ivory,
stretched comfortably on their couches,
they eat lambs taken from the flock,
and calves from the stall!

We are not poor. But, what we own is not the test. The question is, where are our hearts? Are we so attached to what we have and what we want that we miss those in need, those whom we must step over to even leave our houses? We are called to be poor enough in Spirit that our solidarity is with the literally poor and not distracted by selfish pursuits. 

We must not allow ourselves to believe that there is one way to follow Christ that involves alms giving and one that involves more spiritual means. If we miss the poor we miss Jesus.

Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ (see Matthew 25:45).

We must look for Jesus in his distressing disguise as one of the poor, as Saint Theresa of Calcutta reminds us. If we do not actively look and seek we will tend to gravitate toward selfishness and end up ignoring him, even stepping over him as we busy ourselves with daily life. If eternal life is life united to Jesus Christ, than there is a sense in which we cannot have eternal life without also being united with the poor.

But you, man of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called
when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Jesus is invites us to let his own heart and the heart of the Father be in us as well.

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.