What we do with what we have is to the heart of discipleship.

Today’s Gospel begins with the words:  “There was a rich man.”  The real message in this parable of the rich man is that he needs to see his life in the context of stewardship.  We could critique Jesus in his parables as always talking about money.  Did not Jesus get the memo that money is personal, and you are not supposed to talk about it?  After all, we come to Church to pray.

Very, very true.  We come to Church to pray.  We come to Church to raise our awareness about spirituality, do we not?  We come to pray and reflect on our longing for God.

In last Sunday’s Gospel and this Sunday’s as well, Jesus stays on point to an essential component of spirituality and discipleship -- what we do with what we have is to the heart of discipleship.  Jesus is saying again and again in Luke’s Gospel that we are to share what we have with those who don’t have.  We are to serve and to help and to love one another.

In the Gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the extravagant luxury of the rich man is played off against the utter destitution of Lazarus.  The rich man is not a miser; he is not a cheat; he pays his taxes; hopefully he goes to Church every Sunday.  Why bother him?  The point of the parable is that he is simply numb to the poor man Lazarus and inattentive to his needs.  For us to live a Gospel way of life, this is a big deal.

In fact, it is a deal breaker.  In the parable, we see the decisiveness of death.  If change and growth is to happen, it needs to happen this side of the grave.  The parable is meant to bother us, to get under our skin, to annoy us.

The real challenge to my spirituality and to yours is that it is hard to be humble in a society where humility is not much valued.  It is hard to be giving in a society where having is more important. The way of the world is not the way of God.  The ways of God do not support inequality.  The real energy of God strives to rearrange the goods of the world so that all the people of the world share in them.

Yet the point of the parable is not about rewarding the poor and punishing the rich. Rather, it is about the sense of duty and responsibility that comes with what we have been given. Despite his riches, the rich man simply does not look beyond his own gate. He does not care; he does not recognize Lazarus as a fellow human being and his brother. He fails in his responsibility as the brother’s keeper.

My Gospel question for all of us today is who and where is Lazarus among us today?  Lazarus lives in the children of this world who are dying each day from war, hunger, abuse, neglect and disease.  As you and I look with great love on the children of our families and our parish family, may we be mindful of all children who suffer in our society today.

Lazarus lives in the immigrants, refugees, and otherwise displaced people.   While I fully recognize that immigration is a hot political topic in this election cycle, Lazarus lives is the heart of each and every immigrant.  They are God’s beloved.

Lazarus lives on in the many people in need who are supported by the our diocesan Catholic Ministries Appeal – children and adults of immigrant farm families, the sick in the hospital, the young adults on our college campuses, serving people in need through Catholic Charities, and promoting the sanctity of all human life.

As we pray over today’s Gospel, unapologetically and in the name of Jesus, I ask you to generously support this year’s CMA.  I will make a generous commitment to the CMA, and I ask you to do likewise.

Yes, excuses abound for not responding to the Lazarus in our midst as we are asked to support the CMA.  You may say:  “I can’t give to every beggar…That person should find a job…I don’t like our Bishop and therefore I’m not giving to the CMA…I need to take care of myself and my family.”

Today’s Gospel doesn’t hand out any free passes.    Each of us is to give and help in the ways we can.  While each of us has different gifts and different resources, none of us can remain indifferent to the poor among us.  The torment for the rich man began by locking himself in his narrow ego, going against his calling to give.

We need to begin with our remembrance that every Lazarus is a child of God, created in God’s image.  For that very reason, every Lazarus deserves my respect, my love, my proactive care.

The Word of God this Sunday challenges us against our tendency towards self-centered living or individualism, complacency and indifference. The prophet Amos was scathing in his denunciation of the rich and the powerful in Israel. “Woe to the complacent in Zion!” he says of those who enjoy themselves while others suffer from hunger and despair. They are completely engrossed in their selfish concerns and enjoyments. They fail to see the needs of their brothers and sisters.

Such blindness and insensitivity are also reflected in the parable that Jesus to his disciples. The rich man was totally caught up in his own affairs. He dressed himself magnificently; he feasted every day sumptuously; he enjoyed a good life without any reference to Lazarus who longed for the crumbs that fell from his table. Then death brought about the reversal of fortunes. Lazarus was comforted in paradise while the rich man was tormented in hell.

We are called to revive the quality of caring that Jesus showed to all people.  If God cannot act through you and me to recognize the Lazarus who lives among us, then through whom will their needs be met? 

We are gathered for the meal which is the Eucharist. We are fed with his body and blood; we are nourished with the fullness of life and love. But we are reminded that the flesh we eat is broken for others and the blood we drink is shed for the life of the world.

Therefore we cannot properly receive the bread of life unless at the same time we give the bread of life to those in need wherever and whoever they may be.

May our sharing at this table strengthen us in our commitment to be humble servants of our brothers and sisters.  May we be filled with the fullness of life and the love of God and endeavour to share that life and love with others.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels.

This Sunday’s Gospel portrays the somewhat difficult to understand parable of the dishonest servant being praised.  Dishonesty is being praised.

Today’s Gospel tells the parable of the unfaithful servant who has failed in his duty of stewardship.  He faces the prospect of unemployment, reduced status and even ridicule.   Strangely in the parable this dishonest servant rolls the dice, so to speak, and does it wisely. He calls the master’s debtors and simply reduces their debt.  In other words, he is banking on his master’s generosity.  By writing down the debts, he actually makes the claim that his master cannot fault him:  that the master forgives those who owe him, that he is generous and magnanimous.  For banking on this defining virtue of the master, the dishonest servant was praised.

If I may take you back to last Sunday’s Gospel, it appears in the Gospel of Luke just before today’s Gospel.  This is the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son. The clear message of the parable is that our God is a forgiving, loving father who welcomes and embraces his son with much love.  The father leads with compassion and forgiveness rather than judgment or confrontation.  The son receives the forgiving love of his father much more that he deserves on the basis of justice or fairness.  In contrast to the judgmental scowl of the older brother in the parable, the father reveals a generosity of love and mercy.

The message of this hard to understand parable is similar to the parable of the prodigal son or perhaps we should rename that parable to the parable of the forgiving father. The dishonest servant in today’s parable might be referred to the prodigal servant similar to the prodigal son of last Sunday’s Gospel.  He was prodigal in the sense that he wasted his master’s possessions.  But if even dishonest servants recognize the value of generosity and forgiveness, then we the children of light ought to recognize their value all the more.  We, in a similar fashion to the dishonest servant, are to give witness to generosity and forgiveness in the way we are with one another.

The Word of God thus challenges us about our relationship with God and with one another.  If God is so generous and forgiving to us, we too must be generous and forgiving with one another.  

We cannot be the disciples of Jesus and think and act merely in terms of the raw justice of the world.  None of us could be saved if God applied strict justice on the basis of our merits. The readings today remind us of the duty to imitate the God of utter magnanimity, graciousness and forgiveness. The Gospel confirms this message, albeit in a way that is not obvious at first glance.

This parable challenges to think and act in the way that God in Jesus has shown us which is not raw justice of the world but the justice and the very mercy of God.

In our liturgy each and every Sunday, we give thanks to the God of faithfulness, love and mercy.  In our Penitential Rite we confess that none of us are perfect and we depend upon God to write straight with crooked lines.

I am convinced in my own prayer that the more I recognize in myself that I am the prodigal son in the ways that through my sinfulness I have left the spiritual home of my father and yet God the Father always desires to welcome me back home by showering his mercy and forgiveness upon me home.  With confidence I deeply believe that I am immersed in the merciful love of Jesus and that my future is full of hope.  The message is we are forgiven sinners.  The emphasis is not on our sinfulness but on the forgiving love of God.

So too, in my examination of conscience, I recognize that because of my sinfulness I am at times that dishonest steward who has not shared with others the love and giftedness that I have been given by our loving God.  And yet, God is always a God of second and third and fourth chances.  We can trust that our God goes with us and our generosity with others will always be praised and a source of our own blessings.

How does the Word of God connect with your life on this day as you reflect on this servant who is being praised for being generous with his master’s possessions?  The parable is challenging to think spiritually.  Our relationship with God is not based on raw justice, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  None of us deserve the grace of God that is showered upon each and every one of us.  May we acknowledge the prayer we say before receiving Communion:  Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; say but the Word and my soul will be healed.

We are the recipients of the unmerited love and mercy of God.  Thanks be to God.  May we live with an attitude of gratitude.  As St. Paul says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels.  Yes, in our human condition we are but earthen vessels but through God’s grace we have the treasure of God’s unconditional love that is within us.

As the disciples of Jesus, as the faith community of St. Joseph’s, we are called to witness to the extravagant love and mercy of God in the lives of others.  Just as the dishonest steward boldly trusted in the master’s generosity in writing down the debts of the master’s debtors, we can trust in the Father’s generosity and mercy as we share God’s love with one another.

We as a parish community are far from perfect; we acknowledge that we are sinners, individually and as a faith community.   But the grace we seek is spiritual shrewdness.  We can always trust that the extravagant mercy of God will be showered upon us much more than we deserve and the grace and mercy of God will be showered upon others much more than they deserve.

As disciples, we are the stewards of God’s love.  It cannot be the attitude of “My way or the highway.”  We are not to pronouncement judgments upon others that they don’t deserve the blessings of life.  We have no business gossiping or critiquing the value of others.

Rather we are to rejoice that all of us are earthen vessels who contain within us the treasure of God’s love.

Have a Blessed Day.

The father in this beautiful parable led with compassion rather than judgment and confrontation.

Who is the person in your life you find most difficult to forgive?   Who has judged very unfairly, who has betrayed your trust, who has cheated on you, or who even in your own family do you experience considerable tension?

Sometimes genuine forgiveness is so difficult to come by.

As you pray over this parable of the prodigal son, consider the feelings of the father in this parable.  His younger son demanded his share of the inheritance coming to him upon his father’s death.  He wanted it now so he could abandon his family and his home and go off to live a reckless lifestyle.

 Consider the sense of abandonment, the betrayal, the anger the father must have felt.  From the son’s perspective, he seemed to be oblivious to the hurt he was inflicting on his dad.

Fast forward to when the son was penniless and came to his senses and decided to return to his father’s house, he came back just to be treated as one of his dad’s servants.

The point of this beautiful gospel parable is the father’s reaction when he caught sight of his son. He ran to him.  He embraced him with much love.  He put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and ordered the fatted calf to be killed and to have a celebration.

The father led with compassionate healing forgiveness rather than judgment and confrontation.  What happened to his negative feelings and judgments he surely could have carrying around?  This is a challenge for me to get my head around this.  But this is how God loves us.  Simply gaze at the crucifix to be immersed in the merciful love of Jesus for us.

This beautiful parable of the prodigal son can rightly be called the parable of the forgiving father.  The message of the parable is not so much about the recklessness of the son as it is about the forgiving, loving father.

Now consider again the person you have the most difficulty extending a hand of forgiving love.  If you encountered this person just now, how would your encounter compare with the father’s encounter with his younger son?

Are we able to lead with compassion rather than judgment?  This is the grace we seek from today’s Scriptures.  And it is only with God’s grace are we able to let go of our negative feelings.

I know for myself that the only I can imitate the loving forgiveness of the father is when I immerse myself in the reality and the grace that this how God loves me.

I suggest that the only way for us to extend forgiveness to those in your life that are so challenging for you is for you and me to humbly recognize ourselves as the prodigal son in this parable.

The prodigal son abandoned home and family in favor of reckless living.  While we may not have physically left home and family as did the prodigal son, the prayer of the parable invites us to reflect on how we have spiritually abandoned home and family.

When have the challenges of life have caused us to lose trust that our loving God holds us in the palm of his hand?  When have we questioned or doubted God’s healing presence in our life?

Our sinfulness our greed, our pride, the judgments we make about others are an abandonment of our Father’s house of merciful love.

As we examine our conscience, there are many ways we have abandoned the faithful and unending love of Jesus

As we examine the conscience of the church living under the very dark cloud of sexual abuse and the recent bankruptcy filing of the diocese, we ask ourselves:  what gives?  Can we place our trust in the Church of Rochester as we live with this dark cloud of sexual abuse and bankruptcy?  Is this the time for us to look for another Church we can put our trust in?   Do we feel abandoned by the spiritual leaders we have previously trusted?

The truth is yes we personally  at times, too many times, have abandoned the home of our heavenly father through our sinfulness.  Our sin has separated us from God’s love.

Yes, we have also been blindsided by the institution of the Catholic Church in the horrific crime of clergy sexual abuse and now the bankruptcy of the diocese.  Who can we trust?

The answer is very, very clear.  We can trust now and forever in the abiding, reconciling love of our heavenly Father.  One thing has not changed in the life of the Church:  Jesus is our Lord and Savior. 

Our future as individuals and as a Church is full of hope.  Why?  Because Jesus goes with us now and forever.  This Church, your Church, needs you now more than ever.  Jesus had not abandoned the Church, and hopefully we do not abandon the Church just now. 

The spiritual renewal we seek is the renewal that happens when we immerse ourselves in the mystery of God’s love.  May our image of God be the image of the merciful, loving, compassionate father that is portrayed in this parable.

In both the stories that Jesus told and the story that he lived, we are given chance after chance to return to the embrace of a loving God.

Sadly, the Church has not always lived to her high calling.  There needs to be accountability for the loss of trust in our spiritual leaders.

In this world  of prodigal sons and prodigal daughters, do we witness of the judgmental scowl of the older brother in today’s Gospel parable or do we witness to the reconciling love of the father?

This leaves us with a challenge.  Clearly the central message of Jesus is mercy and forgiveness.  But his does not give a free pass to the need for accountability in the life of the Church.  Parents needs to know that their children are safe in the life and the ministries of the Church.  Sadly this hasn’t always been the case.  Going forward, the Church needs to hold accountable to the high calling it is given.

At the end of the day, may we the Church of the Holy Spirit re-commit ourselves to witness to God’s love and mercy in our world.  May we commit ourselves to bring healing and forgiveness to a broken world.  May we in all situations and circumstances witness to the love of Jesus in our world.

Have a Blessed Day.

If there is a bit of the parable that makes us uncomfortable or challenged beyond our comfort zone, we have understood well the message of Jesus.

The Franciscan Biblical scholar Robert Karras has written a book entitled EATING YOUR WAY THROUGH LUKE’S GOSPEL.   If you read Luke’s Gospel from cover to cover, you will find some 50 references to food.  Much of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel is centered around table fellowship.  Jesus sits down with all sorts of people.  Jesus will share a meal with anyone from a Pharisee to a leper.  Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners much to the dismay of the more proper scribes and Pharisees.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is dining at the home of a leading Pharisee.  Jesus has obviously been invited for more than pleasant conversation.  The people at the meal are observing him carefully.  He is known for not following protocol during his table fellowship.  As the story proceeds, the dynamic shifts from the people observing Jesus to Jesus observing them. He is a wisdom teacher offering lessons in humility.

To help us understand today’s Gospel,  it has been rightly said the dinner table mirrors society.  What you eat, how you eat, when you eat, with whom we eat with tells us a good deal about yourself.  And eating is a primary way of maintaining relationships.

Reflecting on today’s Gospel, imagine that a rough-looking, rather unkempt stranger came to your door and asked for something to eat:  How would you respond?   Let me suggest three possible responses:

“Go away or I will call the police.”

Another response could be:  “Wait here on the porch, and I will make you a sandwich.”

A third response might be:  “Come right in and you are welcome at our dinner table.”

Now there are good reasons for each of these responses.  I do not wish to make any judgments about any of these responses.  But who eats with whom is a primary way of developing relationships.

Going back to today’s Gospel parable.  What is often true in the parables of Jesus is that we go from the known to the unknown.  In this parable, the known for all is that we are familiar with eating together at table.  What is the unknown that Jesus is pointing to is two very important lessons on what the kingdom of God is like.   So we ask what is God’s kingdom like?

First Lesson:  Jesus is observing how the guests are choosing places of honor at the banquet table.  Where we are seated at the banquet is indicative of your place of honor.  For those of us invited to wedding banquets, the bride, or perhaps the bride’s mother, has somewhat carefully chosen who seats with whom at the wedding banquet. The places of honor are somewhat predetermined.

There is a side of all of us that welcomes a bit of honor and recognition.

Jesus invites us to take the lowest place and hopefully the host will invite you to come higher.  But please notice that this parable is not about clever maneuvering so that you will be honored when the host invites you to come up higher.

Rather Jesus is challenging that side of us that wants to be honored and recognized.

The meaning of the parable can be found by recalling the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples in which Jesus knelt down and put a towel around his waist and washed the feet of his disciples.  Jesus gave the example to the apostles of how they were to be His followers.

The first lesson from this parable is that his disciples, rather than jockeying for places of honor, were to humbly serve one another.  The way of humble service is to characterize table fellowship in the kingdom of God.

The second extremely important lesson can be found in the latter part of the parable when Jesus says: “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”

This second lesson speaks to the hospitality of God that the Church is to embody.  All are welcome without prejudice in the kingdom of God.  Jesus is the embodiment of God’s hospitality.

How do we as a parish community welcome the outcasts into our parish community?  Do we welcome all people without regard to their race, their sexual orientation, their marital status or whatever there is about a particular person?

And do we feel at home eating where the poor, the crippled, and the outcasts eat or is this below our status and way of life?  This is a challenge, is it not, to go beyond our comfort zone.

While our parish community is primarily white Caucasians, how can we be more welcoming to people of all cultures and nationalities and races?  Shame on us if all do not welcome everyone in our midst.

What is your sense of welcome and what is my sense of welcome to someone who has a different sexual orientation than you or I.  The clear message of the Gospel is that all of us are God’s beloved sons and daughters.

No matter what your marital status is you are welcome in the kingdom of God and therefore you are welcome in the Church and in this parish community.  All are welcome.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus has a strange way of looking on whom to invite and who are the most important.  The point is everyone is invited to the banquet of Jesus.

As we gather for this Eucharistic meal today, we reflect on how we have gathered for this meal.  Do we see each other as brothers and sisters?   Do we see ourselves as servants of each other?  Do we see ourselves as the servants of all who are poor?  Are all welcome to this table of the Lord?

If there is a bit of the parable that makes us uncomfortable or challenged beyond our comfort zone, we have understood well the message of Jesus.

Have a Blessed Day.