Have you seen Lazarus ?

 

Just before Christmas, on the way home from paying the electricity bill, I came across a homeless lady lying in the street in the rain. A security guard was on his radio to report it and arranging for the barangay (local government unit) to see about any medical help they could arrange as motorists peered out of windows and accidently splashed her with rainwater. She regained consciousness and told a bystander that she had not eaten in a long time. Two young men helped her to her feet and onto the sidewalk and shelter near a convenience store. Someone gave her a raincoat as she was shivering while someone went to the store to get her a hot meal. Others spoke with her and waited. 

Oftentimes we wait until the last minute to help and then come through and whilst that’s good what underpins the situation isn’t really. 

I read the other day that, here in the Philippines, the 9 richest Billionaires own as much wealth as the poorest half (55,000,000 or 55 Million ) Filipinos. If we were to weigh in the multi-millionaires and the numerous common or garden millionaires then you get a picture of a seriously polarised and disordered society. Is this what we would expect from the only Catholic nation in Asia ? 

Revisiting scriptures that talk about wealth and particularly insatiable greed and unwillingness to share can be enlightening. The man who built bigger barns to store his wealth, (Luke 12 :16-21) and of course Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16: 19-31) are two striking teachings. What is interesting is what was considered wealthy then and how we think of wealth now. The farmer building larger barns seems like ‘small potatoes’ really and perhaps although his life was taken suddenly and he lost everything in an instant, we do not hear of his eternal destiny. 

For Lazarus and the rich man story though…is a bit different. Again the notion of wealth is rather subdued really. He had fine clothes, dined sumptuously every day; but it doesn’t mention the trappings of extreme or obscene wealth. No private jet, no yacht in the harbour, no 4x4 in the garage, no i-phone or offshore dollar account in Panama or Switzerland and yet his fate is sealed by his complete indifference to Lazarus. He knows he is in need, he knows he can well afford to help and does..…nothing. And such a huge price is paid for that lack of compassion, the loss of his immortal soul, for a lack of charity, unwillingness to share what God had blessed him with. Truly we have nothing that has not been given by God, however clever or hard working, it’s all a gift from God to be used in a proper manner. Lazarus is outside our front doors. 

What we do to others, we do to ourselves and it must go way beyond family and friends to our true brothers and sisters, those who have no one else, that’s where you find true joy and meaning in life. There are many charities that serve the poor. Join. Give. while we still have time.

A New Way

A few times each day a helicopter passes overhead and lands on the helipad of a five star hotel near Manila bay, a service to guests who would prefer to avoid our famous traffic. Its flight path goes over the national sports stadium in whose covered alcoves the homeless sleep and store their handful of belongings… so close, and yet so far. 

The distance between rich and poor here is greater than anywhere I have seen in the world. Unbridled capitalism and endemic corruption work synergistically to ensure an ever growing underclass and untouchable and increasingly isolated elite. Added to this, are the aspirations of the middle classes which can counter compassion and build walls against the poor. It all chips away at our humanity and increases separation and isolation. A big event like the Papal visit for example, sees the homeless shunted away by the government, dehumanized as an embarrassing problem. 

We must seek out a new way, of compassion and dignity. Everyone has a story but not all have a voice. 

I read a post some time ago and the chap who told the story was just sitting down for lunch at a simple outdoor carinderia (café) when a homeless man came shuffling along with a few bags in tow. He invited him to join him for lunch and they got talking. The homeless man had not always been so. He had worked all his life; he and his wife had a good home and life together until she became ill. Hospital bills quickly mounted and exceeded their savings until he had to sell his house and property to continue treatment. (Whilst the Philippines is a developing country, the medical fees are set at first world prices.) Eventually she died and now he was left grieving (although without regret) and had nothing left. 

He was making his way back to a province where he had relatives who might take him in and so his host bought him a bus ticket to that town and they parted company. Sometimes a few minutes to listen and a few pesos can lift someone up. 

How easy it was to help; how much easier not to bother to engage though, like in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Compassion is the better choice; the better choice for rich and poor alike.

When Jesus came to Birmingham ...

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,

They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;

They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,

For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap. 

When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.

They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;

For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain, 

They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain. 

Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do,’

And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;

The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see, 

And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary. 

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,…

When Jesus Came to Birmingham was written by an Anglican minister named Geoffrey Stoddard Kennedy. He called his poem, ‘Indifference.” Kennedy served as a chaplain in the trenches of World War l where he earned the name “Woodbine Willie” because of his habit of giving Woodbine cigarettes to the injured and dying soldiers.

Kennedy wrote this poem during what was called ‘the great disillusion’ of the 1920’s. The English empire was crumbling, the moral certainty of the Victorian age was eroding leaving in its place only skepticism, cynicism and materialism. After four years of war, the British economy was in tatters and poverty widespread except for the few privileged. Kennedy’s love for England and his church faded in the midst of unemployment and the seeming disregard by the wealthy and religious for the desperate plight of the poor.

A Clean Sheet .. a story from Padua

Saint Antony received many charisms from God, one of which was preaching in the Holy Spirit. When he spoke, hearts opened to God like flowers to the sun. Saint Francis of Assisi therefore entrusted him with preaching, and teaching his brothers. One of my favorite anecdotes from his life goes like this: One day Saint Anthony was preaching, and a passerby began to listen to him. The man had committed very grave sins and had been making fun of God, but when he heard Anthony's words of grace, his heart was touched and he could feel the incredible love Jesus had for him. Seeing himself loved so much, he began to sob like a little child, and his tears became even more abundant when he thought about all the harm he had done to Jesus with his sins. He then decided to change his life, to follow Jesus with all his heart, and to go to confession.

Upon entering Saint Anthony's confessional, his crying prevented him from uttering a single word. So Anthony suggested that he go back home, write his sins on a piece of paper, then come back to the confessional, and he did. Anthony slowly read the impressive list of sins while the man could only nod as a sign of acquiesce. He still hadn't recover his voice, so strong was the emotion that had seized him. Finally Anthony reassured his penitent and encouraged him to change his life and to live with Jesus according to the Gospel. Then he gave him a penance and the absolution from all of his sins. The man had made peace with God! Anthony carefully folded the paper where the terrible list of sins were written and gave it back to the forgiven sinner who left unburdened and joyful. 

When the man arrived home, he wanted to burn the paper. He unfolded it and to his surprise, he found the paper completely blank! His sins had totally disappeared! Gone! God was caught in the middle of a delicate act of mercy! It is then that the man realized even more the grace of his confession: when God sees that we come to Him with a real contrition, the desire not to sin any more, and the decision to change our ways, He rejoices so much that not only does He forgive us our sins, but He forgets them! They no longer exist! They are washed in the blood of the Lamb and God becomes amnesic of our evil deeds. 

If we have sincere contrition, even the debt caused by the sin is erased, either partly or totally, according to the depth of our repentance. In other words, the pain from having wounded Jesus, The one we love, spares us purgatory, either completely, or partly. Our desert fathers even claimed that the gift of tears is the greatest gift that we can expect from the Holy Spirit. It is a burning love, a most blessed burn because it opens wide the gates of Heaven!