PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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O God, who manifest your almighty power
above all by pardoning and showing mercy,
bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us
and make those hastening to attain your promises
heirs to the treasures of heaven.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

FATHER ANTHONY’S WRITING THIS WEEK:

Luke 16:19-31: Dives and Lazarus
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This Gospel reading for the 26th Sunday of the year is always a tricky one. At whatever parish I have served at, I have always witnessed poor-looking women holding their babies asking for money either on or outside of the church premise. I must admit that on a few occasions, I have asked parishioners not to give them money. Then comes the Gospel reading about the rich man and Lazarus! This is indeed an unforgettable story. I say again and again that St. Luke presents some of best and most memorable stories from the mouth of Jesus.
Lazarus was the poor man, and most likely not the same Lazarus who was the brother of Martha and Mary whom Jesus raised from the dead (see John 11). This poor man was lying at the door of the rich man, hoping to eat of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Who was this rich man who ate sumptuously? He is not named in the Gospel. However, older texts and traditions sometimes named him DIVES. That was a deliberate misunderstanding of St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate: Homo quidam erat DIVES— which means, “There was a certain rich man” (Dives is simply the Latin adjective for rich, but it has been personified and has become the name for this rich man). [St. Jerome was the 4th-century hermit who translated the Bible from Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic into Latin—the language of the common people: his translation was known as the Vulgate, and has been the official version for the Catholic Church for centuries].
Anyway, both Lazarus and Dives died. In the afterlife, their fortunes were reversed: Lazarus blissful in the bosom of Abraham and Dives tormented in the flames… Readers of this parable may be quick to say that Jesus condemns the rich. However I do not think that is the point. If we take into account the story of rich tax collector Zacchaeus, also found in St. Luke’s Gospel (19:1-10), we can see that even someone as notorious as he eventually finds peace and salvation when he decides to give away his fortunes to the poor… So wealth was definitely not the issue with Dives. The problem with the rich man was not that he was rich, nor that he had a good life. The one thing that led to his downfall was that he had no concern for those around him, especially for the poor man Lazarus. This reminds us of what it means to be Catholic. It simply means “universal.” Whatever is universal is not particular. To be truly catholic means that we cannot just be preoccupied with ourselves, but we also have to open our hearts to others.
At the end of Luke’s Gospel, after the death of Jesus, there is a beautiful story about two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13-35). As they were walking hopelessly they encountered a total stranger—the risen Lord whom they did not yet recognize. Later in the evening, they invited the stranger to share a meal with them. It was then, in the breaking of bread, that the two disciples recognized that it was the Lord… Imagine for a moment that Dives had opened his heart to invite Lazarus for a meal! Maybe his outcome would have been very different!