Print by Shanna Winn

In the Anointed for Mission programme that the Archdiocese uses to prepare the candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation, there is a game that is played to try and get the candidates to take a stand for justice. In this game, people are told to award themselves points for certain qualities about themselves and to subtract points for certain other qualities. The winner of the game is the person who gets the most points. That person is given a prize of a bag of a large number of small chocolate bars. Some of the things that they are told to award themselves points for are: if their family owns their own home; if they have more than two cars in the family; if they are boys; if they are good at sports; or if they were born in Canada. Some of the things that they lose points for are: if their family does not own their own home, if their family does not have a car; if they are girls; if they are bad at sports; and if they were born outside of Canada.

The purpose of the game is to try and get the young people who are preparing for Confirmation to see the injustice of the game and to get them to want to stand up against such an unjust game. By the time the game is over, they are supposed to be angry at the injustice and want to stand up for those who are being unjustly treated. The idea is that they will see that this is sometimes the way the world actually treats people. One of the reasons that the prize is a large bag of many small chocolate bars is because it is hoped the winner will also understand how unjust the game has been and decide to share the chocolate equally with all of the candidates who take part in the game. Happily, throughout all of the times I have been involved with this exercise, the winner has always decided to share his or her prize because he or she understood that the prize was only won because of a number of unjust situations and they have a desire to share with others.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story to His listeners that He hopes will get them to take a stand for justice. The story is about a rich man and Lazarus the poor man who sits outside of the rich man’s house and goes hungry. When both the rich man and Lazarus die, Lazarus goes to Father Abraham in Heaven where he rests comfortably after all of his suffering on earth and the rich man goes to the underworld were he suffers great torment for his lack of charity towards his fellow human beings. Now the part of the story which I think is intended to make us angry and have us take a stand for justice, is the way in which the rich man believes Lazarus should be treated even after he has gone to Heaven. From Hell, the rich man continues to believe that the only purpose which Lazarus can fulfill is to come and serve him in Hell. The rich man asks that Abraham should require Lazarus to leave Heaven and come from there simply to look after the rich man’s needs and to provide for his comfort. As far as the rich man is concerned, the only purpose that Lazarus has, even when he is in Heaven is to serve the rich man’s needs and to be used for his personal comfort. The rich man has a whole list of tasks that Lazarus can perform for him. He is first of all to bring him some water to cool his suffering. When Abraham tells the rich man that Lazarus could not leave Heaven to come to him in Hell even if he wanted to, the rich man then thinks that Lazarus could be of use if he were sent to warn his relatives and speak to them about the danger of ignoring the poor. Again, for the rich man, Lazarus is only a thing to be used for his personal comfort. The rich man does not see Lazarus as a person who is worthy of happiness and a life of his own. To the rich man, Lazarus does not matter. He is not important.

The great thing about Christianity is that it proclaims the importance of every single human being to God. In fact, it could be said, that Jesus actually left Heaven to do for all people those things which the rich man wanted Lazarus to do for him and his family. The Gospel antiphon for this Sunday’s Gospel proclaims: “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” As Jesus tells this story, we are to recognize that He has done everything that the rich man wanted Lazarus to do for him. Jesus left the wealth and comfort of Heaven to show each of us how much He loves and cares for us. By coming to save each of us, Jesus has come to share the wealth of Heaven with every single human being and to illustrate to us the value of each person to His loving Father in Heaven. As Abraham tells the rich man in this story, this has been the message of all of the great figures of the Old and New Testament. Abraham tells the rich man that there are some people who will not believe that every life matters to God even if the Son of God should rise from the dead to prove it and show it. By His life, death and resurrection, Jesus shows that God cares for each person and wishes to raise each one up for eternal life with Him— whether they be rich or poor.

The fact that every life matters to God is a reality that is at the heart of all of the Church’s social teaching. Several years ago, while Saint Pope John Paul II was Pope, the Church issued something called the Compendium on the Church’s Social Teaching. This is a summary of all of the social teachings of the Church. It articulates how a Christian is to act justly in the world. The Church’s social teaching is based on the idea that every human life is sacred to God, from the moment of conception to natural death. For this reason the Catholic teaching about life in all matters is always pro-life; for all people no matter what. The Compendium also emphasizes that all of creation is a gift from God, given to humanity so that life can be maintained for all generations. As creation is a gift from God to all people of all generations, it must be used and shared in such a way that life is possible for all persons and all generations. Individuals are to have the right to maintain the property that they need for a happy life, but no person or nation is to horde so much for themselves that they could never possibly make use of the goods and that their greed should prevent others from living. In the same way that no one nation is to be allowed to have so much that other nations can not live, each age and time in history is to be conscious of the idea that they cannot exhaust all of the earth’s resources and not leave a sufficient amount for the generations to follow them. The Christian is to be aware that he or she is part of a larger community of brothers and sisters who have God as their creator and Father.

The Church’s social teaching also calls Christians to be aware of the way in which they care for the poor and treat other human beings. This concern is shown in our community by the way in which our St. Vincent de Paul Society looks after the needs of our neighbours, The Winter Welcome Table is another way that we are able to share with others in our community. In a city like Toronto, there can be so many needs that we often feel overwhelmed and like it is impossible to respond to all of the different types of needs as individuals. This is where things like our Archdiocesan appeal ShareLife can be so important. Because it can often be impossible for us as individuals to respond to the many different needs of our city, we can support some of the Catholic and Christian relief agencies that allow us to do this as a Church. Our parish has done this through the generous response to ShareLife, our parish’s efforts to sponsor the refugee family for whom we are still waiting and the many humanitarian efforts that we take part in. While it may never be possible for us to solve all of the social problems in the world, the Christian can never remain oblivious to them.

The real sin of the rich man in today’s Gospel is that he does not see Lazarus as another person whose life matters. For him, Lazarus is simply an object or thing who can serve his personal needs. The rich man cares nothing about Lazarus as another human being or person made in the image and likeness of God. The rich man believes that Lazarus, like all of his other belongings, has simply been created for his personal use and happiness. Jesus has come into the world to show us that every human being matters because each one of us is created in God’s image and likeness. Jesus has come to make us His brothers and sisters and to call each of us to treat others as brothers and sisters. Jesus shows us how much we matter to Him each and every time He gives us the gift of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, Jesus comes to us in the simplicity of a piece of bread so that everyone might know His love. In the poverty of a simple piece of bread, He removes every barrier from our experiencing His love and shows us that for Him every life matters. The Christian who encounters Christ’s love for them is also called to understand that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We might not be able to solve all of the social injustices in the world, but we are called to recognize each human being as our brother and sister. The great command to love our neighbour as our self is a call to recognize that each person has value in God’s eyes and ought never to be treated as a mere object. To summarize the message of today’s Gospel it might be enough to simply say: In the Jesus movement, every life matters. As Christians we are called to make this a reality. The game that is played by our Confirmation candidates is intended to open their eyes to the reality of injustice in the world and to call them as confirmed Christians to work for justice. The Gospel that is told by Jesus today is to call us to understand that the call to work for justice is not a game but a serious part of the Christian life.

Fr. Michael McGourty,
Pastor— St. Peter’s Church, Toronto.