We show who we are in how we react when we see others suffering. We declare who we are in what we wear and what we eat. We proclaim who we are by what we do with the abundant resources at our disposal. We determine our eternal destiny when we make these choices. In choosing whether we are compassionate now, we decide where we are going. We are to be compassionate and merciful toward our neighbor, just as God is compassionate and merciful towards us.
And so we hear in today's Gospel that Jesus said to the Pharisees
"There was a rich man
who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus,
covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water
and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
Abraham replied, 'My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.'
He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.'
But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.'
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
Then Abraham said,
'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'"*
We can go about our day meditating on how we are affecting others or not pondering how we are affecting them. We decide whether or not we acknowledge the impoverished person standing on the street asking for assistance. Either we give to such individuals or we do not give to them. Do we even think about how we affect their lives? At every moment, we choose whether or not we are going to evaluate how our actions are impacting others.
Like the rich man in the parable, do we wear fine clothing? If we do, do we consider how it was made, by whom, and under what conditions? Was it made by young children? Was it manufactured by a destitute person, who is living in an underdeveloped country, who is not making enough money to live in safe, clean housing and to eat a nutritionally balanced diet everyday? Gandhi said, "There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it causes hunger and unhappiness." If we are not mindful of how the clothing was made that we wear, we might be financially supporting unjust working conditions of extremely poor persons. We might be turning a blind eye to the plight of impoverished persons as we wear the fine cloth they have sewn in their underpaid labor.
Similar to the rich man in the parable, do we eat delectable food everyday? Who helped supply the ingredients in the food we eat? Who picked the fruits and vegetables we eat? Were they paid a fair wage for their back-breaking work? In the companies we patronize, we are indirectly ratifying how they treat their employees. In the marketplace, we vote with our dollars. We can express our values in how we spend our cash. By consciously directing our funds to companies which fairly treat their employees, we can show real, effective concern for our neighbors who are economically struggling.
Do we too encounter an impoverished person who is languishing in illness? Do we do anything to help such persons heal? I think of a doctor I met who volunteers his services here in northern California. He provides free medical care to homeless people. These particular indigent persons push their belongings around in shopping carts. They sleep in tents on sidewalks. This doctor does not see himself as being above them. He meets with them. He sits down with them. He serves them. He does what he can to help them to heal. He sees the sores on their bodies and not only believes that they deserve better than having their sores licked by dogs, as occurred in the parable. He welcomes them, listens to them and does what he can to remedy their ailments. He is not ignoring them, but is doing what he can to care for them.
We too can help hurting people to heal. When we cross paths with a homeless person, we can apply a soothing medicine to them as we simply acknowledge their presence. In this easily applied remedy, we restore their dignity to them. In merely greeting them, we admit that they are human beings who are worthy of our attention. In simply speaking with them with courtesy, we give them a valuable gift of respect.
Do we encounter people who would gladly eat their fill from the scraps of food from our tables, as Lazarus would have done with the scraps from the table of the rich man? Again, we can easily, with almost no effort, hand food to homeless people. If we know we are going to be walking down particular streets where we likely will pass homeless people, we can plan so that we bring extra food with us to give to them. On a larger scale, I have happily and joyously witnessed companies here in Silicon Valley donating their food leftovers, from the lunches they provide their employees, to charitable organizations serving needy individuals. There are many ways for the rich man to share his scraps with the least of those among us.
Once we die, we will be sent where we deserve to be sent as a result of who we have helped. After we die, we will go where we deserve to go based on what we have done.
After death, what we receive will based on what we have given. If we want to receive, we must give. Today at Mass, in his homily the priest explained that if we give, then we receive.
If we give our love to someone else, then we too are recipients of that love. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton beautifully and eloquently explained that "love can only be kept by being given away." He wrote that if we truly love others, then their good becomes our good. Then we truly wish the best for other people. Then we are compassionate for other persons, because we are so identified with them that we seek our good solely in their well-being.
When we truly love our neighbor, then when someone, when the poor man at our doorstep, asks that we have pity on him, we most certainly express compassion for such a person in how we care for him. Truly loving our neighbor, we do not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our neighbor.
However, after death, will we be asking that pity be had on us? Will we be asking to be relieved of suffering?
During our life, what have we received? During others' lives, what have they received?
Do we live in luxury without acting out of compassion for those who live without basic necessities such as housing, food, clothing and medical care? Do we turn away from the agony others are enduring? If so, we invite eternal torment upon ourselves, the anguish of others that we refuse to alleviate now, while we still can.
During Mass today, the priest noted that Lenten observances of more intense prayer, fasting and almsgiving are ultimately about stirring us to be more compassionate. Through undertaking such penitential practices, we are to be led to be more merciful and compassionate toward our neighbor. During Lent, we are to be moved to act, to ease the suffering of our neighbor.
Now is the time to be compassionate. After we die, we will not be able to send someone to warn others, to urge them to love their neighbor as themselves.**
In the parable, the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers that they might have compassion and love their neighbor. Abraham responded that they have Moses and the prophets, and that they should listen to them.
The rich man realized that his brothers would not listen to the law of love that Moses delivered to the people. He also knew that they also would not listen to the message of repentance from sin that the prophets had delivered over centuries. The rich man replied that if someone from the dead went to them, they would repent. Abraham told the rich man that if people don't believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone comes back from the dead.
I think of the book "90 Minutes In Heaven" and the film based on that book. In this book and in this film, we hear from a man who died and came back to life. He explains how, when he was dead, he went to Heaven. He is only one of the people who have described this journey. Persons have gone to Heaven and back: people still do not believe.
Even though we already were given enough in Moses and the prophets, and in Jesus, who is The Word made flesh, suffering and dying for us to save us from our sins, and rising from the dead, still God gives more to us. Although God had already given us plenty of signs and messages to convince us to believe, God loves us tirelessly. God will keep trying to convince us to turn to Him. God is love,*** and so God will keep on loving us forever.
God loves us infinitely more than we can understand, since God is love, God is infinite, and God loves us infinitely. God is merciful toward us, and has infinite compassion toward us.
Thus we are called to be merciful, just as God is merciful to us.**** We are called to be compassionate, just as God is compassionate toward us. We are called to love our neighbor, just as God loves us.
* Luke 16:19-31
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
*** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16
**** Luke 6:36
