Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Monday, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest. After a seventy-year-reign that began in 1952, she died at the age of 96. The world watched. Of course, the British did not fail. For two weeks they put up the best show on royal life, royal customs, and royal pageantries that the world has even seen. Finally, on Monday, Queen Elizabeth II was buried. 5.1 billion people have said to have watched the burial.
I was not among the 5.1 billion. As I read about the glorious funeral ceremonies, a thought came to my mind. I said to myself, “Death is a great equalizer.” If the Queen and a person who died of hunger on the streets reach heaven’s gates at the same time, what difference would it make? In God’s presence who is royalty and who is not?
Today’s gospel reading tells has the same message. “There was rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man, 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 they died, it did not matter who was royalty and who was not. Death is a great equalizer.
Here are my three points for today:
The Cry of the Poor
Also last Tuesday, for the daily Mass, we read from the book of proverbs. I would like to borrow two sayings from that reading that spoke to me because they are connected to today’s scripture readings. It read: “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard” (Prov 21:13).
Both today’s first reading from Amos and the gospel reading about the rich man speak about those who had shut their ears to the poor. In the first reading, those who lay upon “beds of ivory stretched comfortably on their couches” were the first to be led into exile. In the gospel reading, the rich man at his death experienced torment and God refused to hear his plea because in his lifetime he did not hear the cry of the poor.
Remember, death is a great equalizer.
Rich in Good Works
Today’s second reading is important. Paul says to Timothy, “But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. What does Paul mean when he says, “Avoid all this”? What is “this”? To know the answer, we need to read what comes before and after the text of today’s reading. You will be surprised how important context is to understand the entire reading.
Here is what comes before today’s text: “Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”
Then comes today text, “But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.”
This is what comes after today’s text: “Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.”
In other words, Paul was exhorting Timothy to pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness against the lure of wealth. I don’t know who in this church needs to hear this message, but remember, death is a great equalizer.
Our Funeral Homily
Last Tuesday, I had the funeral of Marcella Cruz. She was no royalty. She was a simple woman who loved her family, loved God, loved her puppy, and quietly helped the poor. She was the kind of woman who in Paul’s words, would say, lived a life of righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. In my homily, I drew attention to the kind of person she was. After Mass, her son came to me and said, “Thank you! You took the life of a woman who lived a simple life and died simple death and made something extraordinary out of it! I said to her. “No! Thank your mother! I didn’t do anything. She wrote her own homily. She was a simple woman who lived an extraordinary life. I just put it into words!”
Each day we live, we are writing our funeral homily. May it be simple but extraordinary. Remember, the things that count are not royalty, fame, power, or glory, rather righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Death is a great equalizer.
Today’s gospel acclamation says, “Though our Lord Jesus Christ was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). In reality, Jesus became the poorest of them all. But His death became the great equalizer. Because of Jesus’ poverty we have become rich and access to heaven. Today, Jesus comes to us as poor, simple bread and humble wine. And now, we must take what we celebrate and take it to the world. May our poverty become enrich other people’s lives and become the cause of their salvation.
- Fr. Satish Joseph