There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, 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. (Lk 16:19-31)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092825.cfm
As someone once noted, the most important feature of the poor is that they are invisible. When Pope John Paul II preached on this parable in his first pastoral visit to the United States, the Catholic right wing were infuriated. The pope said that the sin of the rich man was not that he was rich, but that he failed to see the poor man lying at his door. https://youtu.be/_125Hgnf3uk?si=NsgypJ7twvmfmvh8
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Sunday XXVI, Ordinary Time
