By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Oh, look … it’s my eldest niece’s birthday! Now, how old is my little one? 48?!!! Dang, girl; how’d that happen?! Sigh … I still remember her in pigtails picking flowers in the yard with my mom.

Time does fly, doesn’t it. Alas, I’ve reached the age of avidly checking the hometown obits to see if any (more) of my peers have passed away. (Didn’t we graduate just a few days ago?) But now too many already have gone to eternity. Night falls unexpectedly, ending our productive labor.

But, sadly, sometimes productive labor screeches to a halt much earlier.

In the Catholic Mass this weekend (Sept. 25), we read a passage from the prophet Amos (Amos 6:1, 4-7)—a workman (shepherd and “dresser of sycamores”) who excoriates his Israelite society of the day.

Amos lived in the 700s BC, and he criticizes the aristocracy who are complacent and living luxuriously, caring little for the moral collapse and material poverty of their Israelite brethren: “Woe to the complacent in Zion! / Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches … They drink wine from bowls [another translation is “they drink bowlfuls of wine”] and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph!” (referring to the nation).

Complacency is always a danger for any society—the perpetual seeking of comforts and entertainment in easily-spun cocoons of self-absorption. This is something that we in the U.S. should certainly remember, for we are one of—if not THE—most affluent countries in history. After all, just take away a teen’s cellphone and listen the wails of a tortured soul.

Despite the concerns of our day, who cannot say that we–in “first-world” countries especially–live in historically unparalleled comfort and luxury? Even now many economic and geopolitical prognosticators are predicting widespread fuel and food shortages and famines around the globe this winter stemming from the Russo-Ukraine conflict; how will we respond, one wonders. Continue drinking our comparative “bowlfuls of wine”?

Now, the Gospel for this weekend’s Mass was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 16:19-31). The rich man simply stepped over the diseased, desperately poor Lazarus lying at his gate, even the dogs licking Lazarus’ sores showing more compassion. Lazarus dies and goes to Heaven; the rich man dies and … doesn’t. Ol’ Richie Rich suffers dire and eternal punishment.

So what Amos condemns in the macro scale, Jesus teaches on the micro, reminding us that while many live in luxury, many of those have little—at least insufficient—consideration for their fellow man in need. Their neighbor.

Like the Israelites in Amos’ time, we, too, can become too comfortable, forgetting that God has given all to us not for us alone, but also for others as required in charity. We need be mindful of the scriptural truism: “In the day of prosperity, adversity is forgotten, and in the day of adversity, prosperity is not remembered.”  (Sirach 11:25) … and, in our prosperity and complacency, God Himself is often forgotten. Thus the author of Proverbs penned: “…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me [only] with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’…”   (Proverbs 30:8-9)

It’s notable about both Amos’ and Jesus’ accounts that neither accuses his subjects of explicit sinfulness; their crimes are in simply ignoring God, who provided them all their good things, and being unconcerned with their neighbors who were in dire straits and desperate need. Jesus warns likewise in another Gospel: “…woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.”  (Luke 6:24-25), and John: “…if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”  (1 John 3:16-17)

Jesus’ message in this parable is quite clear:  Quit thinking so much of ourselves, and look at the plight of those around us…helping those in need. Aid those in real need when we can…because, as Jesus says in Matthew 25: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) … just as He also warns: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it NOT to one of the least of these, you did it not to ME.” (Matthew 25:45) And to those deficient in charity: “…they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46), for “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required…”  (Luke 12:48)

What we overspend in self-absorption is essentially wasted. Death is the great equalizer, the inescapable thief of all material things we treasure, the greatest certainty of our existence. And if we have not charity, we have nothing; we are nothing. Whether our gifts to Mankind be material, intellectual or spiritual (hopefully all three), we are all called to better the world. Again, that favorite movie quote from “Kingdom of Heaven”: “What man IS a man who does not make the world better.”

So rejoice at the opportunities given us to serve God and one another…because by them we prove ourselves worthy of the stewardship with which He entrusts us, and we prove ourselves worthy of fond and everlasting remembrance. Both on earth, and in Heaven.

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“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12)

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.