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.

Permanent Revolution

I heard a sermon once, the gist of which was that whilst the church’s mission is to evangelise the world; the world also seeks to evangelise the church. Whilst there are many examples of where this has taken place, a particularly prominent one I noticed is in the area of Catholic education.

Here in the Philippines there are many religious orders and many of them are involved in education, it’s their particular gift. Arriving centuries ago they set to work starting schools. Their founding fathers focus was generally the poor children, seeking to give them their faith and values and also a way out of poverty through a good education.

If we look at these same schools and colleges now it is a very different picture. Most are for the elite, the richest of the rich and their middle class poorer cousins. Whilst there will certainly be a proportion of scholarships, most are paying top dollar because the schools are the best. 

The poor alas will remain barefoot and living under the stars for some time yet. At some point someone was seduced by the dollar or the peso; maybe for the best of reasons, they could expand, have better facilities, all they had to do was play by the world’s rules and become what it wanted them to become. Such is the weakness of man. 

Another allied area is where they were nobbled, not by weakness this time but by their strength. Catholic schools have a reputation for being academically brilliant. I think this is true from primary schools to universities. All well and good, nothing wrong with that, until it becomes the primary driving force.

I have noticed that there is a tendency to hire teachers who are well qualified and competent in their chosen field whether it’s ABC or nuclear physics but not necessarily measuring up quite so well (or at all) as men and women of God. If the teachers are atheists or living lifestyles which are incompatible with Christianity can they really pass on the faith and values of the Catholic Church? Can they give what they do not have? The focus on academic excellence at the expense of its other purpose of making saints of the young is the most insidious worldly evangelisation.

They may become the most prestigious institutions and most sought after but fail to fulfil their stated purpose. By not being mindful of this struggle for mastery we risk being in the service of the enemy camp.

Leon Trotsky believed that for socialism to thrive and not become decadent, it needed to be in a constant state of flux or “permanent revolution” as he called it; (we might call it vigilance) he knew that any deviation from the ideal would be its downfall. As Catholics, as we know our enemy is far more powerful than tainted human nature alone, we should be all the more mindful and alert to his tactics. 

‘Daily bread’

I heard a story recently that sparked an inspiration. It was about a man who was on his way home from shopping and he passed a young woman, a street dweller from her attire, who seemed in great distress. There’s a look in someone’s eyes that tells you that they are about to cave-in or give up hope. She had that look. All he had handy was a bunch of bananas and giving that seemed an inadequate response.

The rest of the short distance home he prayed for the woman, with more than a dash of self-pity for himself too. He would like to have been able to help but was unemployed and the roof over his own head was thanks to the good graces of another. If only God had given him a job and an income he could do a lot for others in need. His conscience seemed to answer him as he thought that the best thing would be to do what he could in the moment.

On arriving home he resolved to do just that; flung open the cupboards and set about preparing a few items. A tin of sardines, a sandwich box with a few slices of bread, a sachet of ketchup from a fast food outlet, a bottle of water, a clean t-shirt and a couple of the aforementioned bananas and then hurried back to the place he had seen the woman. She was still sat on the pavement, leaning against the wall of a building, a tormented and now slightly embarrassed look on her face as he dropped off the package with a few words. As he walked away her face brightened a little as she investigated the contents of the bag. A little light shone in the darkness of her situation; an immediate need met.

The story put me in mind of the part of the Our Father where we ask for our daily bread. For many it’s a matter of routine having already secured rather more than the daily bread, the weekly wage, the monthly salary, the annual pension or even state benefit ticks that box. For others it is a real plea from the heart, one which Our Father does answer, but he does need the cooperation of those he has already blessed in abundance.

Often people think they can do nothing to change the world, but the truth is that however short we may be or perceive ourselves to be, there is no one who can do nothing, we can all help our neighbor just by doing what we can in the moment as it’s presented to us. If the roles were reversed, what would we hope for or expect?

Freelance Writer

Who is my neighbour ? ..

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones…” – Matt 18:10

As soon as the light turned red and our car stopped, like a bolt of lightning, the young girl, perhaps seven years old, threw a pint of soapy water onto our car window. She then began to wipe, scrub and bubble away. It was in the middle of the road on a cool December night. But I was not cool. She caught me by surprise. And the other kids, wearing wet, soiled clothes were running around with buckets and foam.

Despite my growing impatience, I was drawn to this girl. She could have been in a school Christmas party this moment, I thought. But she was here working so as to eat. When she cleaned my window, I looked into her eyes. Was that sorrow? The light turned green when she begged for my half empty cup of cola. There was no time and cars behind us were honking. As we started to move, I stared through the now crystal-clear glass before me.

All of a sudden, I felt a empty. I missed my chance to bless one of God’s little ones.

See below some archive footage from Ethiopia in 1984, a similar scene to Darfur and so many areas of Sudan right now. Help if you can.. see Medjugorje International Relief