26th Sunday of OT Year C
2016:
As many of you
know, I’m a bit of a golf-addict. And I
usually golf with Fr. Mark Gurtner, who is the pastor of Our Lady of Good
Hope. Fr. Mark will freely admit that he
is a lucky golfer. In fact, he always
says that he is the luckiest golfer in the world. It’s true.
I’ve seen him hit it into ponds, only to have it skip the water and land
on the green. I’ve seen him shots that
would go yards past the hole, only to hit the flagstick and go right in. I like to say that he could hit it into the
woods and a squirrel would bring it out for him. I’m the opposite. I always seem to get bad breaks, especially
with cart paths. My ball will be heading
for the green, hit a cart path and go miles.
So, I always say that on the golf course, I’m Lazarus, and Fr. Mark is
the rich man. He gets all the good luck,
and I get the bad. I always tell him:
this parable is about you, and it doesn’t end well for you.
Of course, that is
just a joke. But, this parable is
actually quite serious, it’s also about all of us. This parable is a powerful reminder for all
of us to be thankful and generous. The
rich man in the parable ends up in the place of torment, not because he
received good things in this life, but because he didn’t use these good things
for the betterment of others. Rather he
spent his money on fancy clothes and expensive food. Poor Lazarus sat by his doorstep, and the
rich man didn’t even notice him.
My friends, we are
all the rich man. God has blessed us in
so many ways. But, we don’t want the
story to end badly for us. Take some
time this week to reflect on the many ways that God has blessed you. Then ask: what am I doing with all these
gifts?
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