26th Sunday - Core Truths Create Life
This is a familiar Gospel Story, and we may think this is about good poor guy bad rich guy; but there something else is here in our Gospel.
How do we know a person of integrity? Their words and actions coincide. We would want someone helping us to get healthy who actually eats well, works out, does not smoke, et al. A chain smoking, morbidly obese trainer that eats only at McDonalds would not be our first choice, probably. Their core value would be healthy living.
Within us, we all have core truths, core values, whether we are conscious of them or not; of course the hope is that we are aware of them. Then to be aware of them, we look to our actions: what do we do?
Torah, the law, provides the Core Truths for Jews and Christians. Persistent throughout Torah is God calling Israel to protect those who are vulnerable; the widow, the orphan, those aliens among them. God reminded the people that God had rescued them as slaves, liberated them, so they must not enslave and mistreat others; it would be a rejection of God’s saving work. As Israel would show this great compassion for others, it would reveal the nature of God to the world, and they too would be drawn. And the Prophets repeated this message again, and again, again…because Israel would forget, or simply Ignore God. We can hear Amos in that first reading.
Jesus comes, the Son of God, the greatest gift God can give; and Jesus exemplifies this. He gives special attention to those most in need; those widows, the poor, the so called sinner. Jesus lived the Truth.
The Rich Man ignored the Truth. He could not claim ignorance, because he would have been raised to know Torah, the prophets; as would his brothers. His wealth was not the issue per se. The problem was his Truth had become only himself, and his wants and desires. He did not use that wealth to aid others, to be True to the Covenant of God. He used it only for himself. He wanted to be served, even after his own death.
Lazarus had only God to rely on. Lazarus trusted in that Law; and yet he was let down, not by God, but by his own people.
One of the enduring questions is Why does God permit bad things to happen to good people. Well in Christ, we know the answer. God does not permit it; we do. God has shown us the Truth about life, and the potential for goodness in all of us, God has invited us to live out that truth; yet we forget our Truth, or we ignore it.
It was humans, Christians, that perpetrated the Holocaust.
It is humans, Christians who have slaughtered Ukrainians and do so right now.
It is humans, Christians, who continue the sin of racism, poverty, abuse here in this country, in this very city.
It is humans that gossip about others; insist on their own way; who lie to others, cheat others.
It is humans that use others for their own political gain.
God gives us the Truth, and we fail to be people of integrity.
We celebrate this in the Eucharist. God gives to us his very Son in the Bread and Wine; we consume this incredible gift, this Truth. The call then is to live out this Truth.
Those who make the most impact are those who live out the Truth. Dorothy Day, Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero; Fr. Greg Boyle; all those dedicated people who help at Catholic Charities; those working to protect women, children and men who are being trafficked. Those who show immigrants compassion.
We must not ignore, forget those around us in need; and share. We are called not to be served, but to serve. We live the faith by ensuring that our Core Values, our Core Truths come from God; that we truly see with God’s eyes; we see with love.
Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
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