Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time/C
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Lk 16:19-31) Jesus tells the Pharisees the parable of the rich man and the poor man named Lazarus.
It would be simple, naive, and even somewhat “foolish” to identify the wealth and poverty that Jesus is talking about with something simply economic.
Jesus’ discourse is much deeper, starting with the fact that the ‘rich’ man has no name, while the ‘poor’ man is called Lazarus. The wealth stigmatised by Jesus can be identified in that attitude through which we seek our identity, our security, our value in things outside ourselves (and in this sense, even those who are economically poor can make their poverty their wealth…).
If this attitude slowly, and imperceptibly, becomes ‘habitus’, we lose our identity to the point of no longer having a name, of no longer being able to recognise ourselves and be recognised for what we really ought to be.
The wealth of empty things, external to us, in the long run humiliates us, makes us incapable of perceiving reality, consumes our identity by making us lose the most important things in our lives.
The Lord awaits us precisely in the moment we overcome the subtle temptation to be falsely ‘rich’, to seek stability and security in things that pass, to base our value on things external to us, such as the masters with whom we have studied, the prestigious centres of culture in which we have been trained, the responsibilities we have had.
The real challenge is to find our true wealth within us, and it is here that the Lord is waiting for us to transform what we consider ‘poverty’ into our true wealth.
The Gradual for today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 144 (Ps 144:15-16) with the following text: Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine: et tu das illis escam in tempore opportuno.
Aperis tu manum tuam: et imples omne animal benedictione
(The eyes of all look towards you in hope, O Lord; and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand and fill every living thing with your blessings).
The attached music, in Gregorian chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the choir ‘Cantus Gregoriani’ conducted by Philip Arkwright.
The musical track can be found on the CD ‘Gregorian Chant for the Soul’ published by Priory Records in 2009.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
