26th Sunday Ordinary Time

Readings: Amos 6.1a,4-7, 1Timothy 6.11-16, Luke 16.19-31

Today the first reading and the Gospel try to teach us to care about what happens to others. It is a teaching that all of us need to hear from time to time. We want to follow Jesus Christ and we want to learn to live as He lived. Jesus Himself teaches us that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

The first reading from the prophet Amos, tells us about our Hebrew ancestors in Zion, not caring that part of people have been destroyed and taken away. All of us suffer from this same tendency; if catastrophe does not affect us personally and directly, then we can easily forget about it. Even today, with televisions modern media, when we can see the awful things that happen in our world, we often find ourselves not caring much about what happens to others.

On the other hand, if we know that something is going to affect us, then we begin to care passionately.

The Gospel is Jesus’ story about a rich man and a poor man to show easy it is to have poor people living right on our doorstep yet pay no attention to them. They are simply inconveniences to us and we can learn how not to see them and how not lo let them bother us.

So often we desire everyone to have the freedom to do whatever they want. We even say things like: if it is not hurting anyone else, then we should just let it happen. Or we might say: yes, that is hurting other people, but we should not get involved- it is none of our business. We can have these attitudes personally and as communities and even as nation.

It is not easy to find how involved we should with others. It is obvious that we cannot be involved in everyone else’s life! But what obligations do we have if we know that the man next door abusing his wife. Or the woman next door abusing her child. Or what of the neighbor that we know steals things; or the neighbor next door who is not faithful to a spouse? What kids of involvement can we have and should we have. Can we remain Uninvolved.

So many of us will see people who live on the streets and do nothing. Others of us can recognize a problem of alcoholism in peoples we know and say not.

Jesus doesn’t give us easy answers. Rather he gives us stories about a rich man and a poor man. When the rich man ignores the poor man, he loses his soul.

Have we lost our souls? What is our response this story of Jesus? How do love my neighbors? We can ask Lord today ? We can ask Lord today to pray within us and to show us a way to love more completely all those who come into our lives. May God enlighten our minds and our hearts so that we may live His love more fully.