First Reading
Amos 6:1a,4-7
1. Do self-indulgence and wealth necessarily go together? Are indulgences and related complacency related to your ability to hear the cry of the poor?
2. Would you choose the people in this reading to be your best friends? Why? What’s missing in a person’s life if all possible time and effort is consumed with caring for his or her needs and desires? Put the people in this reading at one end of a self-indulgence spectrum and Mother Teresa at the other. Where do you fall?
Second Reading
1 Timothy 6:11-16
1. Jesus said to Pilate, “the reason I have come into the world is to bear witness to the truth.” What do you do that bears witness to the truth? Do you think, “Lay hold of eternal life” means that you should try to grab eternal life or that you should let God grab you?
2. How do patience, gentleness, and love relate to your bearing witness to the truth? How is your gentleness? Your patience? Your love?
Gospel
Luke 16:19-31
1. Where would you find the poor person today? What would he or she look like? Do you recognize and care for him or her as God’s beloved child, or do you want to roll up your window or shut your door when you see him/her coming? Are you somewhere in between these alternatives?
2. What did Pope Francis suggest as a help for us when we find ourselves acting as the rich man in the parable?
Let us think seriously today about the rich man and Lazarus. This happens every day. And many times also — shame on us — it happens in us, this battle, between us, in the community. And when hope is extinguished and we feel within us the loneliness of the heart, inner weariness, the torment of sin, the fear of failure, let us again return to the taste of bread. We are all sinners: each one of us bears his or her own sins. But, sinners, let us return to the taste of the Eucharist, the taste of bread. Let us return to Jesus, let us worship Jesus, let us welcome Jesus. Because he is the only one who defeats death and always renews our life.
Think about Lazarus and the Rich Man
Pope Francis Homily
Sept 25, 2022
