Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign this is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord.
Today we welcome guest reader Brenda Piazza.
Brenda is a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mendon, New York, where she joyfully serves in a variety of ministries.
Brenda also shares her gifts with us each liturgical season, narrating our little book's reflections.
And now, here is today's Gospel and Homily.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke 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 nether world 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 and 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 Gospel of the Lord now here's the question.
Is this a consoling parable or is it a threatening parable? Is it comforting or frightening?
A homilist could make it frightening. They could warn us that we'd better be careful how we live our lives, and especially how we use our money and the things we own here we live in comfortable homes where with plenty of food on our table, we'd better be careful. When we die, we will stand before the Lord who will judge us, and we could end up being Sent to a place of torment with flames that burn forever, and so forth and so on.
Now we do have to take note of how we use our possessions.
Jesus talks about that at different times, but particularly in Luke's Gospel.
But let's look at today's passage. Is it consoling or threatening?
Did you notice how Jesus talks about death or rather life after death?
Jesus takes it as a given that when we die, we live.
When we die, we go to God. It's very comforting.
This raises the question that has always been the question, is there life after death?
Do we go out of existence when we die?
Are we absorbed into a black hole where we dissolve into nothingness? If we take this gospel passage seriously, here is Jesus telling us as clearly as we'll find anywhere in the Gospels, that there is life after death.
The Lord takes care of his little ones when they die.
Here's another question.
Whose shoes do we put ourselves in when we hear His Gospel?
That's an interesting thought.
When we hear the parable of the 100 sheep, I don't think any of us identify with the 99 who were left behind.
We all think of ourselves as the lost sheep.
When Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray, and the Pharisee boasts of his goodness, while the tax collector simply says, oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, with whom do we identify?
We identify with the tax collector.
When people were bringing children to Jesus to have them blessed, and the disciples became indignant, and Jesus says, the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, with whom do we identify?
The children.
Isn't that interesting here in today's parable, when Jesus talks about how God will care for the little ones of the world, all we tend to think of is the great chasm separating the good and the bad and the flames and the thirst of the rich man.
The problem with the rich man is he didn't think he needed God's help.
That's the key to this parable.
Jesus assures us he takes care of us if only we will let him.
And furthermore, he teaches it's not complicated, as though we have to have special knowledge and status.
He says it's simple.
Just listen to Moses and the prophets, to what is set before us in Scripture.
We've got more than Moses and the prophets. We've got the Gospels.
And we have the spirit, God's own spirit poured upon us.
We have sacred symbols, water and oil and rituals that are simple and clear.
We've got the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ.
Foreign we're not surrounded by fire and brimstone and terror.
We're surrounded by the healing, forgiving, comforting touch of the Lord.
Listen to the Eucharistic prayer where we remember the Lord's words the night before he died.
Take this all of you, and eat it.
This is my body which will be given up for you.
Take this all of you, and drink from it.
This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant which will be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Then we pray to God.
We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.
When we recognize death is not the end, when we open ourselves to the Lord's forgiving, comforting love, then we live differently.
But we have to know this good news first.
I send you out in that spirit.
The Lord takes care of his little ones and the truth is, we all feel like the little ones.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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