Bridging the Great Chasm

 

The story of the rich man and Lazarus presents us with two lives lived in stark contrast—one in luxury, the other in misery—and the eternal consequences that follow.

We hear of a rich man who "dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day." Purple cloth was extraordinarily expensive in Jesus' time, a symbol of extreme wealth and status. At his gate lay Lazarus, covered with sores, longing to eat the scraps from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came to lick his sores—a detail that emphasizes his utter destitution and suffering.

What is striking about this parable is not merely the contrast between wealth and poverty during their earthly lives, but what happens after death. Lazarus is carried by angels to the "bosom of Abraham"—a Jewish expression for paradise—while the rich man finds himself in the netherworld, in torment. Now the tables have turned completely. The rich man, who once feasted, now thirsts desperately for even a drop of water. Lazarus, who once longed for scraps, now rests in comfort.

But notice something important: the rich man is not condemned simply because he was wealthy. The Gospel does not condemn possessions themselves. Rather, his sin was indifference—a complete blindness to the suffering at his very doorstep. It is not wealth itself that is evil, but rather the indifference that wealth can generate in us toward the needs of others.

The rich man knew Lazarus by name—we see this when he calls out to Abraham about him—yet he did nothing to relieve Lazarus's suffering. Day after day, he stepped over or around this suffering man to enter his home. He had countless opportunities to show mercy, yet he remained blind to Lazarus's humanity.

In death, a great chasm separates them, which Abraham says cannot be crossed. This chasm, however, did not suddenly appear after death. It existed during their lifetimes—a chasm of indifference that the rich man himself created and maintained. In eternity, this self-made chasm simply becomes permanent.

The rich man was not punished because he was rich, but because he was unmerciful. His wealth was not his condemnation, but rather his failure to use that wealth in service of love and mercy.

This parable challenges us to examine our own lives. Who are the Lazaruses at our gates today? They may be the homeless person we pass on the street, the elderly neighbor living in isolation, the immigrant family struggling to make ends meet, the colleague battling depression behind a brave face, or the abandoned orphan kitty we find in our backyard

The "gate" in the parable represents the boundaries we create between ourselves and others. Our gates might be our busy schedules, our comfortable routines, our social circles, or simply our self-absorption. These gates can blind us to the suffering around us.

What is one concrete step you can take this week to bridge the chasms in your own life? This Saturday, I am hosting a thank you picnic for 80 foster moms who take stray kittens into their homes and provide shelter, love and meds to raise these furry companions until they are ready to be spayed or neutered and adopted into caring homes.

Perhaps you are making time to visit someone who is lonely, contributing to organizations that serves the vulnerable, advocating for just policies that protects human dignity, or simply being more attentive to the needs of those you encounter daily.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends for the grace to see as God sees—to recognize Christ himself in the face of every Lazarus or furry friend at our gate. May we use the gifts God has entrusted to us not to widen chasms of indifference, but to build bridges of compassion and love.

Enjoy images of Animal Shelter Appreciation Picnic

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acts of Kindness

Oh, yeah the gospel story this week is about a “slimy dude. The Parable of the Dishonest Steward in Luke’s gospel is one of those lessons pastors can’t seem to navigate smoothly. It’s like a driver’s test where we keep running over the orange safety cones because we don’t really know for sure what Jesus (or our evangelist, St. Luke) is trying to tell us.

However, I want to share a true story about a Sonshine Friend who recently retired and choose to work part-time as a home companion. He is providing home care for a senior physically challenge patient. This patient called my friend to say he had fallen in the bathroom and his wife was not at home to help. My friend called his agency to inform them that their client needed assistance and the agency response: “that was against policy for the patient to call the home care aide and he was not to go to the home.” Really! The client is required to call the agency first to request services. My friend was told “not to go.”

However, my friend is not bound by policy but rather a compassionate heart and he immediately got in his car and drove over to help the patient.  He waited to get scolded or worse lose his job because he violated agency policy. To his surprise, he received a letter in the mail with a commendation from the agency for his willingness to help their patient. Go Figure?

Of course, he never told the agency that he ignored their policy and went to help that man in his time of need. Yesterday, my friend shared that this gentleman and his spouse were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Due to his disability the couple would not be able to go and celebrate this occasion. So my friend asked the couple what they would like to eat for dinner to celebrate. The wife shared “real mashed potatoes” not the kind that come out of a box. So he was preparing in his kitchen a sumptuous meal and planning to uber the dinner to their home that included “real mashed potatoes.”

Back to that parable where the sneaky guy gets commended, and Jesus leaves it up to the listeners to figure out what the story really means. You could just say the manager was in a pickle, knew he had to act quickly for he would be out of a job and homeless.

What does that have to do with us? We know how the times are. They’re just as desperate, confusing, and uncertain for our generation as they were for those who heard Jesus preach centuries ago. We have resources, but how do we use them? How should we use them? Are we squandering the things the Boss has left in our charge?  How are we called to reduce the burden of our neighbors? These are questions we should be asking.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have compassionate hearts like my friend who put aside policy and went to help that man in his time of need. Better yet, he went beyond the call of duty to help that couple celebrate their wedding vows and love for one another. Now why don’t you go do the same for someone you know in need of your gifts with your acts of kindness.

 

 

Kirby and Acts of Mercy

 

This retired shepherd was invited this morning to Holy Family’s annual picnic. Their pastor, Fr. Corey asked me if I would preach a childrens’ homily. So, I bring Kirby along and together we shared this story about mercy. I wanted the children to learn that Jesus’ love can come from people we never expect.

Once upon a time, there was a dog called Kirby who was going to the park to play with his favorite ball when – he was chased by a Big Bully Cat! The Big Bully Cat pulled Kirby’s ears and bit his tail and scratched his face and finally chased poor Kirby into a large bed of pricker bushes and left him there. Poor Kirby. It was worse than that. Poor Kirby was so hurt that he could not get up, he just lay in the bed of pricker bushed feeling very sad.

But just then, a poodle came by, a fluffy, white poodle. “Hooray!” thought Kirby, “This fluffy, white poodle will help me out of the pricker bushes. But the poodle did not help Kirby. She turned up her nose and walked straight past. Oh. That wasn’t very friendly. Poor Kirby.

 But then, a sausage dog came by, a long, sausagey sausage dog.
“Hooray!” thought Kirby, “This long, sausagey sausage dog will help me out of the pricker bushes.” But the sausage dog did not help Kirby. He looked the other way and walked straight past. Oh. That wasn’t very friendly.

Then, a dalmatian came by, a big, spotty dalmatian. “Hooray!” thought Kirby, “This big, spotty dalmatian will help me out of the pricker bushes.” But the dalmatian did not help Kirby. She turned her spotty back and walked straight past.

Poor Kirby. Kirby was feeling very sad. Would no-one come to help him? Then another Big Cat came walking along and Kirby feared he would be mean to him. He will pull my ears and bite my tail and scratch my face! Kirby shook in fear.

But this Big Cat did not do any of these things. Instead, this Big Cat pulled Kirby out of the pricker bushes. The Big Cat found a bandage in his pocket and he put the bandage around Kirby’s head. Then he rubbed Kirby’s ears better, put some soothing cream on his tail, and brushed his fur all smooth again.

Finally, this Big Cat gave Kirby his favorite treat – dog biscuits!. Then Kirby and the Big Cat who wasn’t a bully went to the park to play ball together.

To the grownups at the picnic, I ask.  Why do we do acts of mercy? There is a story about thirty-two members of my small parish who were willing to be volunteer hosts for guest families living in the church basement.  They brought them home-made dinners, watched their kids, and generally tried to treat them like human beings in the midst of their unfortunately crappy circumstances. As always happens, of course, there were some complaints from church members. They claimed their guests were sloppy, that they didn’t come for dinner on time, they didn’t do the dishes, their kids were bratty, they left the lights on. they didn’t leave the building when they were supposed to, etc., etc. (It just wouldn’t be a church if people didn’t whine about something, you know?)

I like to remind those who find fault that, if these guests actually had their acts together, they wouldn’t be living in a church basement. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves why we do acts of mercy in the first place. When the pastor was asked what we hoped to get out of it. He responded that he wanted a ministry for his church in which people could see that they had made a real difference in the lives of others. One of his parishioners answered that this program would “make God smile.” Others came up with similarly groovey-sounding answers, but one of his teenagers simply said, “I want these homeless people to get back on their feet.”

 

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 15: 1-10), Jesus teaches us about rejoicing when the lost are found. It’s meant as a critique against those who get their shorts bunched up over why people get “lost” to begin with. We are to be supporters, not judges.

 

Think about it. If you’re a parent and you have a child with an addiction or an eating disorder, do you condemn or abandon that child? Wouldn’t you diligently search for the best care you could find to bring him or her back to your family in one piece?  And when that lost child reaches a recovery milestone or graduates from school or gets married or achieves some goal of a normal, healthy, functioning human being, aren’t you overcome with joy? Don’t you want to throw a party and celebrate?

 

All of us, after all, are lost in some way. Jesus has gone to pretty drastic lengths to find us and bring us back to ourselves. I’d say that calls for a party, or a picnic like today.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we realize that all our acts of mercy put us in a cloud closer to Our Lord and heaven.

A Very Special Sonshine

 

Last November, I received a phone call from Joe. He sadly shared that his father had died of a massive heart attack at home. The paramedics did all they could to bring him back but there was nothing more they could do to save him. I was stunned and I am still in disbelief. He was like a son to me.

 

In his memory, I am launching the attached photography website to remember his gift and generosity to his family and many friends. 

https://fathermattkawiak.myphotofeed.com/

 

At his funeral service, I shared this memory of Ken. He loved adventures and enjoyed traveling to new places and along the way doing some unexpected shenanigans. In 2017, we travelled on a Road Scholar trip to Acadia National Park. On our way to Maine, we stopped at a dozen lighthouses to take pictures. My hobby is as you will see attached is landscape photography, 

 

Ken’s hobby is wandering, especially to places that say “no admittance.” For him that meant there must be something interesting to explore so forget the sign that says ”too dangerous, government restricted or detours.” His attitude was fearless or perhaps reckless, “let’s find out what’s on the other side.” As I am setting up my composition, he would be wandering, up and down the shores and rocky coves, collecting rocks and stuff to bring home to his beloved grandchildren.

 

When we finally arrived in Acadia National Park, we began our walking tour with a group of twenty people from around the country. We hiked the trails 5-9 miles each day. During the tour, you had free time to do your own thing. That was Ken’s opportunity to explore new adventures not in the itinerary and this would get very interesting for you never knew what he was thinking or where we would end up. So off we are driving from Acadia to New Brunswick, Canada. Ken would be the pilot and I was his navigator recommending landscape sites to stop along the way. Our destination was a lighthouse claimed to be the most photographed in the world. It is located in Roosevelt Campobello International Park in New Brunswick that can only be reached at low tide. 

 

Ken surprised me with this crazy idea. He wanted to find a local Canadian grocery store searching for some unique candies that were only sold in Canada. I had no idea what he was plotting, but I got the shot of that lighthouse that he had enlarged and hangs behind his desk in his office. We are now searching for a local grocery store, in New Brunswick, nobody speaks English but he is determined to find a candy called “Smarties.

 

It's a candy like M&M’s, however different in that they have a sweet flavor from the coating, followed by an almost hot-chocolate-powder chocolate taste. Ken buys 20 boxes of Smarties, puts them in his backpack and we drive back over the border to our motel for the night.

 

The following morning, we rejoin our group and we are back on the trail hiking Cadillac mountain. Our group leader stops us for lunch. As people are getting their box lunches out of their backpacks, Ken starts passing out the Smarties boxes to all our fellow hikers. They were surprised and delighted to learn that this was a unique treat for them to enjoy. He shared the story about this candy coming from Canada, but I can only admire his desire to surprise and bring joy to our fellow hikers. Ken’s generosity and spontaneity to do these crazy acts of kindness made me smile to have such a thoughtful, generous friend. 

 

In the past nine years, it has been my humbled privilege to travel to many national parks from Banff National Park in Alberta to Crater Lake in Oregon last September. In Ken’s memory take a few minutes to review the images of our adventures and if there is a photo you would like to hang in your home or office, simply email your selection to my attention and I will help you with an order.

 

However, this photo website is an invitation to support a wonderful volunteer group called “Volunteers4Animals.” I have attached their website and encourage you to make donations to support their special work to save kitties and puppies.

 

Please feel free to forward Fr. Matt Photography to all your FaceBook friends for their support.

https://fathermattkawiak.myphotofeed.com/

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and for my spiritual son Ken. At his funeral, I asked the congregation: Is God calling you from a too self-indulgent lifestyle to one of helpful concern for people who are less fortunate than yourself? Is God calling you to some generosity of time and gifts? From his kindness we have all received a blessing. In the quiet of our hearts, in our prayers, may we forever be grateful for Ken's love and kindness and promise to continue all his good works and be a blessing to one another. Amen.

 

NOTE: At the end of Fr. Matt’s Photography website is a “Contact Me” message. Feel free to give me your thoughts, order a print or send a message that you want to take me along on your travels to visit a national park. 

https://fathermattkawiak.myphotofeed.com/