Complacency

26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle C

Complacency

The pope is a rock star these days, isn’t he? Everything he says is front page news and the subject of great discussion and debate. And one of his main themes from since his election is that we need to remember the poor. His teachings on the poor have brought needed attention to them, and that’s a good thing. Pope Francis is reminding us of what our basic mission has always been; loving our neighbor.

It’s easy to forget the poor. It’s easy to not notice the plight of anyone but our selves, isn’t it? Days like today and readings like these are important because they refocus us onto what is truly important. They remind us what it means to be disciples of Christ. They are not intended to make us feel guilty (but I assume the collection today will be a little larger than usual). Rather, they are like a map we look at in the middle of a journey that helps us stay on track.

That is what Pope Francis is doing; keeping us on track. As Saint Paul tells his protégé’, Timothy, today, “Compete well for the faith.” You can’t run a race unless you know the racecourse.

One of the key themes of Catholic social teaching is the preferential option for the poor. Not the preferential treatment of the poor, but the option for them. There’s a difference. What the Church teaches is that whenever we either individually or as a nation or society consider an action or actions, we think about how it will affect the least among us, and act to their benefit. In other words, if the choice is between making the lives of the poor better or worse, make it better. We should apply that litmus test to any situation that will affect other people’s lives in a meaningful way, from the coffee we buy to the legislation we pass.

The readings today are part of the basis for that teaching. Nowhere in these readings and nowhere in Catholic social teaching will you find a judgment on poverty and wealth in and of themselves. In none of these readings do we hear that wealth is evil and poverty is a virtue. Jesus isn’t saying that all the rich will go to hell and all the poor will go to heaven. This is not pitting the rich against the poor and vice versa in class warfare. This is all about the gift.

We are all given gifts from God in some measure or other. Some people are given much, some virtually no material goods at all. Some are given great talents while others just enough to get by. We can argue about the fairness of it all some other time. What’s important is not how much you are given; it is what you do with what you have.

We have no idea whether or not the rich man was a good man or if Lazarus was a bum. We don’t know why Lazarus was in his state or how the rich man got his wealth. Not important. All we know is that Abraham says that each was in the position they received from God.

The rich man never directly hurt Lazarus. He never oppressed him or stole from him. The rich man’s sin was that he never even noticed Lazarus!  The sin of the rich man was not that he was rich, it was that he was not a good steward of the gifts he had been given. He had grown complacent in his prosperity to the point where he assumed it would always be there. His complacency blinded him to the need of his fellow man right outside his door.

Recall what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 25, on how we will be judged. Those folks who wouldn’t be going to heaven didn’t even know they were doing anything wrong when they ignored the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the poor. Didn’t matter.

Turn the story around. What if the rich man had come down with leprosy or some other horrible disease, and Lazarus knew about it but did nothing? Or even worse, didn’t care because he was so wrapped up in his own situation? Would their places in heaven be reversed?

There are plenty of good rich people and plenty of bums. But all of us are rich in some ways and poor in others. I love one of the Prayers of the Faithful options in the marriage rite that prays for “the hungry rich and the hungry poor”. We are all hungry, aren’t we? We are all at times the rich man and at times Lazarus. And most of us are spiritually poor, especially when we are materially rich.

Paul speaks to Timothy today about using the gifts he has been given. “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.” Those are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we will all be judged on how we use those gifts.

Many of you have heard of Sam Skaggs. The Skaggs Catholic Center in Sandy is named after him because he donated virtually all the funds for its construction, which includes both Juan Diego High School and St. John the Baptist parish. The Skaggs family founded and owned the Safeway’s and Albertson’s grocery chains, among others, so he had a great deal of wealth. Sam died in March of this year, and during his funeral Monsignor Fitzgerald told us that over the years Sam donated over $100 million to the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Virtually every parish in the diocese has benefited from his generosity in some way or another.

Sam had a lot of money, but he didn’t serve that master. Instead, he served the Lord, and money was his tool. 

We hear a lot about giving back. People who have wealth or fame seem to have a need to give back to society or something. That may be a worthwhile thing to do, but what are they giving back to? And why think of it as giving back, as if there’s some sort of quid pro quo involved in success. No, it must be seen as gift giving. We receive the gift from God and then pass it on to others because that’s what a gift is.

We are truly blessed in our popes. Especially during the past century, they have been men unafraid to refocus not just Christianity but the entire world on the true message of the gospel. They have been true evangelists and missionaries. Our popes have found ways to rise above the noise and clutter of modern life to speak a simple message of peace and joy to the world. I think it’s great that Pope Francis is a rock star. People notice and listen to rock stars. But every rock star needs good amplifiers in order to be heard. That’s us.