Once during a catechism class about heaven and hell a boy said to the teacher: “I don’t want to go to hell, but going to heaven means that I need to challenge myself. I don’t like that. That’s why I will live in such a way that I can end up between heaven and hell.”
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ! The pupil took his teacher by surprise. She didn’t know what to say. However after some time of reflection the teacher remembered the words of Abraham from the parable we have just heard: “Between us and you a great gulf has been fixed.” Jesus knew what he said as we acknowledge it every Sunday saying: “He came down from heaven.” In the parable Jesus used two fictional figures of a rich man and Lazarus but he placed them in the real context of the world to come. There is no land between there. There is salvation and condemnation. Between them there is a great gulf.
That gulf, Abraham pointed out to, is something people create in their life. From our own experience we are aware that such a gulf can grow between friends, between children and their parents, between nations, even between husband and wife, though it doesn’t grow on its own. People, by their own actions, words etc., make it deeper and wider. Such a gulf we can also establish between us and God. Just think of Judas. While other Apostles grew closer and closer to Jesus Judas was drifting further and further apart. Both Judas and the rich man from today’s parable weren’t terribly bad people. But both of them ignored God. Judas ignored Jesus Christ whom he was able to watch day and night. The rich man ignored God who through the Ten Commandments, symbolized by Moses, and the teaching of the Scriptures, symbolized by the Prophets, was showing the way of righteousness leading up to the eternal life.
To shake us up Jesus told us the parable of the man who had simply a great time. Some people tried to make it more dramatic by concluding that he got his wealth by oppressing the poor, that he was doing wrong and sinful things. However the drama of the story is that Jesus leaves no doubt that the reason for the man to end up in hell was that he ignored Lazarus, that he didn’t make an effort to notice him. The rich man could have said: “I have never seen Lazarus.” And that’s the core of his sin. He didn’t make an effort. It means he didn’t care.
Our life is not a game. Our choices have got their consequences. Somehow rather it has become popular to think that God’s mercy means that whatever people do will be forgiven. God forgives indeed but his forgiveness leads to change of heart and life. If there is no change of heart and life it means that God’s mercy has been wasted. It means that we have made the gulf between us and God wider and deeper.
My dear Friends! Probably none of us needs to use the back door at home to avoid a beggar sitting at the front entrance. Thus we could say that today’s Gospel doesn’t apply to us. However let me tell you a story. During an abortion procedure a little baby boy was left on the operating table to die. The medical personnel simply waited for 30 minutes for him to die without helping him. Ignoring his crying, ignoring his pain. Again we could say: “What does it have to do with us? We weren’t there.” That’s the excuse of the rich man from the Gospel told by Jesus: “It’s none of my business.” If we keep silent about the babies whose life is threatened by the prospect of abortion, if we keep silent about the elderly and ill who are being forced for euthanasia, if we keep silent about our young people who are given damaging theories regarding their sexual development, if we keep silent when the marriage is being manipulated, we are like that rich man from the parable Jesus told today. The man was a fictional person so that we could see ourselves in his position. Let’s conclude with what St Paul wrote in the second reading: “Fight the good fight of the faith and win the eternal life.” There is no land between. Let’s appreciate the gift of God’s mercy by changing our hearts and minds in the light of the Gospel.

            The first reading and the Gospel touch a similar topic: money, or better to say the craving to have more and more of it. The Prophet Amos exposed the dysfunction of his contemporary society where the rich were becoming richer and the poor were becoming poorer. The wealthy were so obsessed with multiplying their wealth that they even complained about Sabbath as it was forbidden to trade on that day. The Gospel shows also an economy structure where the exploitation of the farmers was the way for the rich and the managers of their properties to squeeze more out of the poor.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Now we can think that these passages from the Bible should be sent to the mighty of this world. However this is the message for us, followers of Christ. You may still remember those three parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son we had last Sunday. St Luke recorded that those parables of mercy Jesus told the crowds who followed him. Today’s parable about the astute steward Jesus told only his disciples. Why? Because he wanted his disciples to be different then the society fixated on money. We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth (…) But store up treasures in heaven.” The real treasure is, as Jesus said in the Gospel today: “The poor, your friends, who will welcome you into the tents of eternity.” We know that Jesus gave the keys to the Kingdom of heaven to St Peter. However, as we can read it in the Gospels, and as the Church Fathers read it, St Peter opens the gates to heaven only to those who can present recommendation from the poor they helped during their life on earth.
            We may think that helping the poor is the job for social services we have. However it is a call Jesus wants you and me to take very seriously because whatever we do to one of those least in our society we do it for Jesus. “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
            My Dear Fellow Believers! In the city of Cracow, in Poland, where the last World Youth Day was held there is a church built 600 years ago by a polish queen. She supervised the project personally. It didn’t only involve the progress of the structure but the wellbeing of the workers as well. One day she spotted a quarryman who looked sad. She approached him and found out that his wife was seriously sick. The man didn’t have money for treatment so the queen removed the golden strap from her shoe and gave it to the man. She didn’t realise that the shoe slipped off her foot and when she walked away she stepped on the fresh plaster leaving her footprint there. The grateful man didn’t miss that. He cut the section out of the stone and inserted it in the wall of the church they were building. Interestingly the good queen wasn’t canonised for 600 years due some political tensions which occurred at that time in Europe. But she wasn’t forgotten. The people remembered queen Hedwig and for centuries prayed to her and venerated her. She was canonised only 19 years ago and the basis for her canonisation was continues veneration she had among the people for such a long time.
            “Use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity.” Saint Hedwig took that message seriously. She had lots of poor people who could recommend her for heaven. How many recommendation letters from the poor have we collected so far?

            What would you do if a Catholic revealed to you that he doesn’t believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Communion? Would you try to convince him? Would you attempt to explain that it is important for us Catholics to treasure that bread is Jesus’ Body and wine is his Blood?
            This actually has happened to me. A man, an honest man, approached me and said that he didn’t believe in the Eucharist. First I wanted to convince him, but for some reasons a different thought occurred to me. I gave him the Story of the Soul, which is the autobiography of the Little Flower, St Therese of the Child Jesus. The Saint who is known for her joyful attitude and kind smile experienced in her life such faith doubts that she confessed that she could understand atheists. I said to the man: “Read it and make friends with her.”
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! We understand when people get injured physically or even emotionally. We understand easily stories like that of the Good Samaritan. However we can forget that people can get injured spiritually as well. That their faith may suffer like that of the lost son, someone who lost his faith in the closest person possible, his own father. Was the father bad? Was he dysfunctional? Was he abusive? Nothing of the sort. Something happened in the boy that he imagined his happiness away from his father. Something injured his faith in his father. What was this something? How many times I have heard from people whose relationships were broken because someone else poisoned their minds and hearts with doubts about their loved ones. The beginning of the Bible gives us also such a story. The story of the evil one, who like the snake, and the Bible pictures him as a snake, punctured not the physical body of Adam and Eve but their soul with the poison of doubt regarding God. Is there antivenom? Well, there is. Every Sunday before we place the gifts of bread and wine on the altar we profess: “I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Even if the way we say it is similar to: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty… I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ… I believe in the Holy Spirit...” we don’t believe in the Church the way we believe in God. We rather believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the churchy way, in the way the Church has believed. This is the meaning “I believe in the Church.” It also means that we don’t believe just for ourselves but also as Church we believe in order to carry those who struggle in their faith. The faith of the community of believers is the antivenom offered to those who struggle in their faith. Today’s first reading is a powerful example of such a case. Moses is the symbol of those who believe and his faith in God saved the whole community who went astray. The father from the Gospel depicts another aspect of such a community. He is a symbol of the community those who go astray can always return to.
            My Dear Friends! When Jesus spoke about the little flock, he envisaged that the faith in God would never go extinct. There will be always Christians who will preserve crystal clear faith in God like Moses. There will always be Christians whose openness to welcome the lost in faith is evident like the openness of the father of the prodigal son.
            My Dear Fellow Believers! The story of the prodigal son walking away from his father keeps being repeated in so many people we know who walk away from God. They are spiritually injured. The Church we are will be always the home they can return to. The antivenom they can reach for. That’s why don’t feel embarrassed when people call you churchy. On the contrary think about that scene from the Gospel of John when Jesus was speaking about giving people his Body and Blood to be consumed. Many left him then saying that his speech was hard. When Jesus asked the Apostles whether they wanted to leave Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Because of their faith and the faith of so many generations of believers we do have the Church we can come to now. Because of our faith there will be the Church for others to come to.
           Last year there was a story of a disabled man who climbed a mountain in Canada. Actually he didn’t climb it. He was carried to the top by his friends. I just wonder how many people get to heaven because of support, encouragement, inspiration and prayers of fellow believers. It may not be reported in media but it is an integral part of the Church, to carry those who doubt and struggle in their faith.

            Once I had a conversation with a man belonging to one of the newly established Christian denominations. In his church it is forbidden to address anyone as father. He quoted to me Chapter 23 of Matthew: “You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.” That’s why children in his church always say dad rather than father. If we followed this way of reading of the Bible we should now return home and tell our folks that we hate them as that what Jesus spoke of in the passage we just heard.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Even those who don’t believe in Jesus know that the Bible has got a prominent place in our Christian way of life and worship. Some even classify Christianity as a religion of the book. Before we reflect on that let’s think about some chronology. You may know the riddle: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” I am going to leave it unresolved. You can discuss it with your family when you get home, to stop you from telling your folks that you hate them. However let’s look at another riddle: “Which came first, the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Church?” That’s an easy one. The first two or three generations of followers of Christ didn’t have the Bible as we know it. They didn’t have the four Gospels nicely bound together either. Those first generations, that early Church had the Word of God inscribed in their memory, their conscience, their heart, their way of life etc. before it was written down. If we could compare the Church to an orange the orange juice would be the Bible. The Bible comes out of the Church like juice comes out of the fruit. By the way, do you know how much Jesus wrote himself? The only piece of Jesus’ writing we are aware of is what he wrote on the sand when the adulterous woman was brought up to him. As far as I am aware that piece of writing hasn’t been preserved. Instead, Jesus put down his teaching in the memory and love of his Church he founded. That’s why the Catholic Church says: “We are not a religion of the Book. We are the religion of the Word of God.” It means that it is the living Word. The Word which has got transformative power we can see in the Gospel. The Word, which shines in the darkness and confusion of our societies. That’s why the Catholic Church says: “The Holy Scriptures cannot be separated from the community of believers from which the Scriptures came out.”
Last Sunday I spoke that faith in Christ cannot be separated from the community of fellow believers. We need to be a united community to fulfil our mission to be witnesses of Christ to the world. It is not a mission for a single person. It is a mission which can only be accomplished by a united community. Such a united community also preserves the right way of understanding of the Bible. It is called Sacred Tradition. In the Scriptures we read: “We must be most careful to remember that the interpretations of scriptural prophesy is never a matter for the individual.” Why? Those Christians who believed in such approach ended up with having more than 30 thousand Christian denominations. If the Sacred Scripture is separated from the united community bitter divisions begin. Those divisions are much bigger than using or not the word father.
My Dear Fellow believers! How should we read the Bible then? As Catholics we believe that Jesus has given us the Church which first was shaped by the Word of God and lived the Word of God. That Church wrote down the Scriptures and also preserved the authentic way of reading and understanding the Scriptures. We call is Sacred Tradition. In the Catechism we read: “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate on with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal. Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own ‘always, to the close of the age’.”
That’s why a substantial part of our worship is listening to the Word of God. We call it the Liturgy of the Word not the Liturgy of the Book. I would like to invite you to put down your Bibles, Mass books, and parish bulletins for that part of Mass. Instead, lift up your heads, which is as important as lifting up your hearts during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and look at the person proclaiming the Word of God which becomes a living Word in the united community.