If the pastor of one of Canada’s
most affluent parishes can’t make his congregation feel guilty while preaching
about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man he should probably find another
line of work! However, I’m not much for making people feel guilty and I don’t
think that concern for the poor—which many in our parish show to a remarkable
degree, as it happens—is the only message in today’s Gospel.
What really struck me this
time as I read the familiar parable was the rich man’s desperate pleading that
Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers, to help them avoid his own unhappy fate. He
was tormented by the desire to call them to repent and reform, about which he
could do nothing from beyond the grave.
Let’s think about this fellow
for a moment. The parable doesn’t say that the rich man kicked Lazarus as he
walked by. Or more likely, he never even noticed him lying at the gate. His sin
was blindness, rather than contempt. It was, we might say, not what he had done
but what he had failed to do.
I have to tell you that those
are the sins that frighten me—not things I knew were wrong but sins of omission
I never thought about.
Is it possible that those of
us who listen every Sunday to Moses and the Prophets, those of us who hear the
Gospel proclaiming that Jesus has risen from the dead, are failing to warn our
brothers and sisters to avoid the unhappy fate of the rich man in the story?
Is it possible that we might
share the rich man’s sorrow because we have not shared with our brothers and
sisters the good news of Salvation?
As you all know by now, our
monthly Water in the Desert evening of adoration and prayer features a faith
testimony given by someone from the parish. They do so humbly and simply but
they are doing what the rich man was unable to accomplish after death: they are
sharing the truth, the truth of the Gospel, with their brothers and sisters so
that they might follow the poor man’s path to life and receive an eternal
reward of with Abraham and the angels.
I was in Toronto last Saturday
and I missed Water in the Desert but I heard a lot about Karen Magee’s testimony.
She had everyone’s attention as she told how she had moved away from God as a
young woman—“I put God on the shelf,” she said, “and went out on my own.” At
first Karen felt great, freed from the judgement she felt from church, but that
freedom was fleeting. Her self-esteem depended on the current culture but that
only made her feel empty.
God found a way to enter into
her life again. He used a young man named Kieran to whom she was attracted
precisely because of his faith; on their first date Kieran asked Karen if she
wanted to come to church with him!
Of course Kieran wasn’t the
only one who showed her the goodness of God and the joy of Christian living. The
members of her own family, and Kieran’s, offered her wonderful examples and
prayers.
And here, if this were a
parable, I would end with “and they lived happily ever after.” But life is more
complex than that and God always wants more for us than even Christian family
life and faithful church-going. Karen began with the famous Cursillo retreat
and weekly Scripture study, which helped to open her eyes to the beauty of
God’s word.
But her testimony last week
reached its peak when she said “it
wasn’t until I went to Alpha that I
truly was able to experience that personal relationship with Christ, that he
‘personally’ loved ME.”
And she didn’t stop there: “I learned through Discovery that it was not my
work that would save me, it was a personal relationship with Jesus; it was
through his death and resurrection.”
At last, Karen said, “I was able to fully give my life
to Christ to faithfully put him at the center because he had already saved me
and he would work through me to save others.
“Now through leading Discovery I am finding my voice
to bring the good news that God loves us, sin divides us, Christ has saved us and
wants a personal relationship with each and every one of us.”
Alpha, as many of you know, is a series of videos and
discussions that describe the basic message of Christianity. Discovery is a
small-group faith study taking participants deeper into the mystery of
salvation.
I could talk for half an hour on Alpha and faith
studies—they are at the heart of our parish evangelization efforts. But today I
am not focusing on inviting you to Alpha or Discovery. Inspired by today’s
Gospel I am asking those who have taken Discovery or gone through Alpha to ask
others. There is surely no greater missed opportunity than to fail to share a
life-giving message with those we love or even just with those whom the Lord
has placed on our path.
As the rich man realized, too late, it can be a matter
of life or death. So asking someone once is not enough; if you’ve already asked
them, ask them again.
Ed Zadeiks, whom we like to call Mr. Alpha in our
parish, used to ask the regulars he saw at Tim Horton’s to come to Alpha, in
the days when he had the time to go to Tim Horton’s. When they said no he
smiled and said “I know you won’t mind if I ask you again next year.”
Dear friends, I’m not afraid that you or I will be like the rich man in our
blindness to the physical needs of others; we live in a much more compassionate
and aware society than Jesus did. But I do fear that we may be blind to the
spiritual hunger of those around us, a hunger less visible than what Lazarus
suffered but just as painful and just as much demanding our charity.
Our parish Alpha
and the Discovery faith study
resumes this month. We do not need to ask God to send a messenger to warn our
friends of the dangers of the modern culture. We can still, as long as we live,
deliver the message ourselves.
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