Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We can easily misunderstand this gospel by thinking the poor man in the gospel or any poor man if he had a hard life will easily enter heaven. And the rich man will go to hell. Then all of South America will be saved and most of North America will burn in hell. Another common interpretation is that as a Christian I am called to look for other people like Lazarus in the street and give them groceries, chocolates, and a blanket. These interpretations would be mistaken and a very immature way to look at the gospel.
Lazarus is a humble man; he lets the dogs lick his wounds; the rich man would never allow this because he was too arrogant. When we say a person is very humble, people tend to think that he is extremely poor. But most homeless people on the street are not humble. Go and speak to them and they will be nice to you if you give them something and if you don’t, they will curse you out. Our understanding of a poor man and a rich man is very superficial.
In this gospel, the poor man is the humble one and he has a name. The rich man doesn’t have a name. You also have a name and so in this sense we are like the poor man. Your name was given to you at baptism, by the Lord, by the Church. The proud man has no name because he is god and he’s above everyone and that is why he cannot be at the side of Abraham.
There are some contradictions in the gospel like when the rich man is in Hades or hell he is crying out, but to whom should he cry out? He is asking Abraham as if he was the guy in charge up there, even though he is a man like us who has no power. He should really cry out to Jesus Christ because he has the power to conquer death. The gospel says the rich man can’t pass from hell to heaven, nor can anyone. Has there ever been a person who has done so? Yes, Jesus Christ. So, we can assume the rich man doesn’t know Jesus. He has the power to get him out of hell because he did it himself.
It is a wonderful word today because all of us are in hell. You and I come like the rich man who deep down is so poor that he doesn’t realize his poverty. I hope you came like this today; I hope you came thirsty and thirsting for love. What is the Eucharist? It is not about dipping your finger into the water to quench yourself. It is much more than that. The Lord draws you in and takes you out of hell and into heaven in this Eucharist. Heaven is made present in this Eucharist today in the midst of your hell. Heaven and hell have been united.
You are sitting here today in your hell, in your slavery, in your poverty, unable to escape from that sin. You find yourself unable to love, unable to forgive, you cannot rid yourself of that anger and hatred inside of you. You are not humble; hell is to be arrogant. Hell is to be alone by yourself, like this man. He was told that he had received good things in this world; he was the god of his life, and this is hell. You are god and you do whatever you want. Heaven is made present here when Christ himself is present, when he comes to you. Today you will be able to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. This is what saves you. Where is Christ? He is in heaven and so heaven will enter you today. He will be in you. The gospel is wonderful; what is it calling us to do? Look at the one next to you; he is Lazarus. Stop being god of your life and judging everyone as if you were god.
If you were God, you would be loving everyone around you and showing them mercy. He is a God of mercy and forgiveness, but you are a horrible god, unrelenting, a god who does not forgive, a god who does not love. I wish you were a god who loves as he loves us. You have been created in his image and likeness, you have been created to love as he loves, but you cannot. You are a horrible god who is arrogant, but the true God is humble and that is why he loves you because to love you is to be humble. If you were proud and you are proud, you cannot love. This is why your marriage is the way it is because you are both proud people who cannot love each other until one of you is humble. This is to be the image and likeness of God. Be humble and all will be fine. Humility scares the devil away; did you realize that? Ask for forgiveness and have Lazarus at your side.
Who is Lazarus? You don’t have to go to the Bronx to find him. Lazarus is your husband or your wife. Look at his wounds; he is begging at the door, knocking at the door, asking for love. He is saying: I need you to love me. Show this love to your children who don’t come to church, and you will be in heaven. What do you give to your children who are Lazarus covered in sores, begging for help. What do you give them? As a Christian you are called to give them love, which is what the rich man lacks; he is extremely poor because he has not found the love of Jesus Christ. You know Jesus Christ that is why your story is different from the gospel. You can call upon Jesus, and he will come to your aid; he will help you. To call upon the Lord is to be humble; the proud man does not ask for help.
Take heart if you come broken today and only loving yourself in everything this is why sin exists because you love yourself and you do not love others. Do not try to hide your sins. You do not love others because if you did love others, you would not be destroyed tonight. In this hell that you are in the Lord comes to help you, to refresh you. He comes to give you life.