WEBVTT 00:00:02.509 --> 00:00:09.289 We bring whatever concerns and cares, whatever 00:00:09.289 --> 00:00:15.949 sorrows or joys, whatever confusion and troubles, 00:00:16.089 --> 00:00:26.410 we bring them with us as we gather. But what's 00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:31.960 the providential word from God? St. John says 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:38.939 that he wrote all those words so that by hearing 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:42.420 them we will believe, and by believing we will 00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:45.060 have life. So what's the providential word that 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:48.039 will give us life today, even accounting for 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:53.780 my halting and inarticulate expression? We bring 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:57.960 whatever concerns we have. But what specific 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:01.320 thing about this parable today, in this time, 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:07.120 in this place, are we being given by God? The 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.959 Lord is trying always, but especially at the 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:15.079 gospel, to get our attention. Like a young child 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:18.680 with his parent. Dad, Mom, look at this, look 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.319 at this, come here, come here, come here. Parents, 00:01:21.319 --> 00:01:23.319 you know how sometimes we just say, oh, I'll 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:27.019 be there, son, daughter, in a moment. And then 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:33.739 we miss the moment. So God's tugging on our shirt. 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:38.579 He's tugging on your sweater. Pay attention. 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:46.780 Look. Listen. There's a story that you've probably 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:48.760 heard me tell before. It's a famous story about 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:53.000 C .S. Lewis. Maybe we could remember this story 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.180 when we go to the mall, we go downtown. and we 00:01:57.180 --> 00:01:59.420 encounter someone asking for the morsels that 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:02.299 fall from our table, spare change as we might 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:06.019 call it. I remember the words of C .S. Lewis 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:10.159 when he was rebuked by a friend for giving spare 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.240 change to a beggar. The friend said to C .S. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:19.379 Lewis, that bum is just going to use the money 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:25.099 you gave him to buy beer. And C .S. Lewis responded 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:27.360 by saying, well, that's what I was going to use 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:36.340 it for, too. This story is not just about charity. 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:40.800 It's a very deep parable, and it goes in every 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.500 which way direction. It's spinning towards us 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:47.500 all the time. It's a very difficult parable. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.020 It's not what we maybe want to hear. A dysfunctional 00:02:51.020 --> 00:02:53.379 family with five brothers and one that just died 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:58.159 and went to Hades. Wealth that isn't shared. 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:03.740 Poverty that isn't noticed. The voice of God. 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:11.379 Father Abraham, anyway. If anyone has the world's 00:03:11.379 --> 00:03:15.680 goods, material blessings. You see, this isn't 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:19.259 about wealth. condemning wealth if anyone has 00:03:19.259 --> 00:03:22.560 the world's goods and sees his brother or sister 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:26.120 in need yet closes his heart against him how 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:31.639 does god's love abide in him so this parable 00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:35.240 is really about god's love and our gratitude 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.500 and our capacity to love with the love that god 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:44.180 has given us yes we give to the poor because 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:47.900 we're going to help them But that's because we 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:52.620 see the image of God. That's because we're grateful 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:57.840 for the riches, the riches that God has given 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:01.240 us. Purple and fine linen, nothing. Look at what 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:07.560 I have. Sumptuous feast. Brothers and sisters, 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:11.599 what will we partake of? So many riches are given 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:15.319 to us. But what were the concerns of this rich 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:18.480 man? And maybe, you know, when we look at this 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:23.480 parable, we try to see ourself in there. Not 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:27.439 the Lazarus character. I'm certainly not Father 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.899 Abraham. What does that leave? What were the 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:35.920 concerns of the rich man? They were the ordinary 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:41.500 concerns that people have all around. Do not 00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:45.120 be anxious. about what you eat or what you drink 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:48.959 or what you wear. Don't be anxious about these 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:54.360 things. He thought of nothing of the next life 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:57.540 or the coming judgment. As far as he was concerned, 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:01.439 he had to answer to no one but himself, and he 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.740 was concerned about feasting sumptuously, it 00:05:04.740 --> 00:05:12.939 says, every day. He was a man of routine. He 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:17.339 lived, as the text says, every day, dressed marvelously, 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:23.300 feasting sumptuously. And he tended not to notice 00:05:23.300 --> 00:05:29.779 insignificant things, insignificant things around 00:05:29.779 --> 00:05:33.300 him, such as a man starving at his doorstep. 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:43.519 Some years ago, I was coming and going in my 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:49.240 car, Todd Road Highway, passing Tower Mart or 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:51.459 Power Mart or whatever it was called at the time. 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:56.199 And I had to go in to get gas or, you know, potato 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:59.620 chips or whatever, you know, that I like. And 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:03.800 there was a man at what used to be a bus stop 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:07.300 there. And he was sitting on the bench, and it 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.740 was a bus stop cover, and he was slumped over. 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:16.600 And I went in, went out, I saw him. Drove out, 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:19.519 came back, saw him. Drove out again, saw him 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:23.339 again. He was still slumped there. The next day 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:26.300 I read in the paper that he had died that morning, 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:35.180 probably sometime after I was there. We tend 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:39.839 to not notice what is not significant to us. 00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:45.819 I think the pain of the rich man in Hades was 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:49.259 that he could see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom 00:06:49.259 --> 00:06:54.180 far off. And he realized, like I am realizing 00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:59.100 now, what I could have done for this man. This 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:05.339 rich man now knows that things that appeared 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:08.160 to be small there in the next life became things 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:11.509 of significance. Little things such as crumbs 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:14.430 that fall from the table or a drop of water on 00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:19.490 the tip of a finger. That man now saw as very 00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:23.949 huge. He now sees that poor, weak, sick man is 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:26.949 really a person of consequence. We had the Divine 00:07:26.949 --> 00:07:31.110 Liturgy yesterday, Memorial Divine Liturgy. Hundreds 00:07:31.110 --> 00:07:33.670 of names were read commemorating them of the 00:07:33.670 --> 00:07:39.420 departed. Hundreds. This man has no name. in 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:43.259 the story. What does that tell us? This sick 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:47.560 man, the poor man, was a man of consequence. 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:52.519 The man of power of this world. The man of sumptuous 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.319 living. That's not going to bring us anything, 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:00.040 brothers and sisters. And the deep and fiery 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:04.819 pain of understanding and that being revealed 00:08:04.819 --> 00:08:08.569 to him in Hades. It's not something you and I 00:08:08.569 --> 00:08:14.149 want to encounter. There's a chasm between Father 00:08:14.149 --> 00:08:18.449 Abraham, he says, and this man. And it didn't 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:21.670 appear all of a sudden at death as some kind 00:08:21.670 --> 00:08:25.009 of punishment. It's already described there at 00:08:25.009 --> 00:08:27.610 the beginning of the parable, isn't it? The rich 00:08:27.610 --> 00:08:30.910 man creating a chasm with his selfish way of 00:08:30.910 --> 00:08:34.450 life and his ungodly use of wealth because there's 00:08:34.450 --> 00:08:38.019 a godly use of wealth too. and he was blind to 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:41.620 poor Lazarus, he may have been on the other side 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:47.200 of the Grand Canyon. There's a great gulf fixed, 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.799 and this man can no longer do what he wants. 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:55.940 The whole of his life, and let us examine our 00:08:55.940 --> 00:08:58.379 own, the whole of this man's life was moving 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:03.179 towards that chasm. He put it together. He made 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:06.879 his own prison. He's the creator of that Hades. 00:09:08.659 --> 00:09:12.000 Father Patrick Reardon wrote this. He said, that 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.700 man spent a lifetime becoming accustomed to sin. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:20.179 Not sins of commission. All of them were sins 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:24.919 of omission, what he had not done. When we come 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:30.519 to confession, most of us look at the sins that 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:34.549 we have committed. And this is good. But what 00:09:34.549 --> 00:09:42.129 about the sins of omission? This man became habituated 00:09:42.129 --> 00:09:45.909 to the absence of God, and he did not see, because 00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:49.509 of that, the presence of the image of God in 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:52.669 poor Lazarus. And he lived each day as there 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:56.789 were no God, and that he had no moral responsibilities 00:09:56.789 --> 00:10:01.549 in the world. Like me, just driving by, a man 00:10:01.549 --> 00:10:11.549 slumped in a bus stop. It turns out that morality, 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:16.649 or the lack of it, is not the main message here. 00:10:17.970 --> 00:10:21.750 Taking care of the poor, as essential as that 00:10:21.750 --> 00:10:25.789 is, and as important as that was for the people 00:10:25.789 --> 00:10:27.970 of the church, of the early church, and throughout 00:10:27.970 --> 00:10:32.029 history. Think of St. Basil. I think of the orphanages, 00:10:32.169 --> 00:10:35.950 the hospitals, the schools, the poorhouses, the 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:38.730 workhouses. all the way up to the time of St. 00:10:38.769 --> 00:10:41.850 John of Kronstadt, all the way up until our present 00:10:41.850 --> 00:10:44.570 day of the monastery of St. Elizabeth in Minsk. 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:49.009 We Orthodox in this country have been identified 00:10:49.009 --> 00:10:53.070 by polls and surveys as the richest Christians 00:10:53.070 --> 00:11:00.090 of any Christian in this country. Yet we don't 00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:04.169 have one hospital. Orphanages are found in Guatemala, 00:11:04.490 --> 00:11:08.419 not here. Maybe it's a little more complicated 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:12.480 now for us, considering social restrictions. 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:19.799 Schools, forget it. Catholic charities, taking 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:24.500 care of the poor. God will reward them. What 00:11:24.500 --> 00:11:29.980 about us? So this parable isn't about just that. 00:11:30.509 --> 00:11:32.950 It's something deeper. The parable is really 00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:37.649 about me or you, an allegory of your soul, of 00:11:37.649 --> 00:11:44.470 my soul, the soul starving and poor and wounded 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:50.090 like Lazarus, begging at the gate of life for 00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:54.110 illumination from God, for God's mercy, for some 00:11:54.110 --> 00:12:00.090 prayer, for some charity to give to others. for 00:12:00.090 --> 00:12:05.389 some vigils, for some scripture, for contemplating 00:12:05.389 --> 00:12:08.690 the resurrection. The feasting and purple and 00:12:08.690 --> 00:12:11.289 fine linen of the parable refer to the way I 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:14.649 pamper my appetites while refusing to give any 00:12:14.649 --> 00:12:20.769 notice to my soul. Sure, we come to church, but 00:12:20.769 --> 00:12:24.909 this is just to feed us, to launch us out to 00:12:24.909 --> 00:12:29.309 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and etc. so our soul 00:12:29.309 --> 00:12:35.009 will shine. Let us not starve at the gate spiritually. 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:40.470 How do I digest this story? God did not speak 00:12:40.470 --> 00:12:45.149 just a long time ago. He speaks now. What did 00:12:45.149 --> 00:12:49.149 Abraham say to the man? Your brothers, they have 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:52.610 the law and the prophets. And even if someone 00:12:52.610 --> 00:12:54.789 should rise from the dead, they will not believe. 00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:58.039 We have... our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.559 dead. We will partake of his risen body and blood. 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:03.940 We have the scriptures. Let us not find ourselves 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:08.500 on the other end of that chasm, either in this 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:11.840 life or in the life to come. How long will God 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:17.940 give us? As long as we have breath and we have 00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:22.580 life, God has given us a chance to repent, to 00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:26.840 pray more. to take care of our charitable concerns 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:31.320 and responsibilities, to gather more for worship, 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.559 to discover his word and his instruction and 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:43.059 his life -giving help in the scriptures. We have 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.820 the resurrection and the scriptures. What else 00:13:46.820 --> 00:13:50.679 do we need? The Lord has blessed us richly. Let 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:54.370 us give thanks to him in honoring our Lord. now 00:13:54.370 --> 00:13:57.470 and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.