Gospel: Lk 16:19-31
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.'”
Homily
I remember as a young man being warned by my parents that hopping the train (getting on or off while it was moving) was dangerous and moreover it was against the law. Children at a certain age tend not to listen to parents however and I continued the practice until I became very proficient at it. I did it without thinking. One day without looking to see if the guards were on the platform, I hopped the train almost in front of a guard. He immediately took me to the office and made a report both to the school and my parents. Of course I was punished.
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All of us are creatures of habit. We do what we are accustomed to do without thinking. We become our habits. Good habits are virtues, bad habits are vices. We are good or bad according to the accumulated strength of the habits which we have built in our lives.
In the Gospel reading given for our meditation this weekend, we have the story of Dives and Lazarus. Dives, the rich man “dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.” He had built a habit of excessive consumption without any regard for Lazarus, lying at his door covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from Dives’ table.”
Both Dives and Lazarus die and they receive their life’s reward. Lazarus goes to the bosom of Abraham, presumably because of his lifelong resignation to God’s will. In the story given he is never portrayed as rebelling against his lot in life. Never rebelling against his lot in life was a habit which he built. Dives is buried in hell presumably because of his habit of excessive consumption without any regard for those who suffer.
Dives, in the only instance in which he thinks of others, pleads with Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers lest they too suffer the same fate as he. Abraham tells him; “’They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. Dives’ brothers have built the same habits that he has and the only way of changing those habits is taking God’s word seriously and acting on them so as to develop different habits. Dives knows that his brothers have no use for God’s word as revealed by the prophets so he pleads with Abraham. 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.’”
The lesson for us is very clear; we all develop habits in life, some good, and some bad. We need to place our habits against the backdrop of God’s word to discover which ones must be kept and intensified and which ones must be eliminated. We become virtuous persons in the measure that the good habits take precedence in our lives. It is with reason the Book of wisdom says “Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor number of years the true measure of life; understanding, this is man’s grey hairs, untarnished life, this is ripe old age.”
This is what all the saints did in their lives. They built habits of virtue and became their habits.
St. Joseph became the just man; Francis became the “povorello”; Teresa of Calcutta became the mother of all those dying on the streets. The saints are all models for us. Where they went we can go. The question then becomes for each one of us; what habits of virtue will we build? What habit will we become? By what habit will we be known?
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, each day we are presented with a choice, the choice to build good habits, or the choice to build bad ones. Help us not to be coarsened by the pursuit of wealth and power so that we may be sensitive to the needs of those who like Lazarus do not even have the strength to get up and move on. Help us to be known as persons of virtue always caring for those in need. We ask this through the prayers of Mary our Mother and your son Jesus. Amen
