It is hard to keep track of the crises around us. The war in Ukraine continues with an added threat of tactical nuclear weapons. Our economy is sending such confusing signals that experts cannot even agree on what the problems are. And blue and red rarely make purple. All of these are of national or even international concern, but today’s Gospel tells us that to get at the root of them we should look at Lazarus or more particularly the crisis of the rich man. 

Jesus preached in a socially stratified society. Carpenters begat carpenters, fishermen begat fishermen, kings begat kings and priests begat priests. It was unlikely that people would have lives different from their parents, but it was not impossible. For Jewish men advancement could be found through religion. To keep its power the temple priesthood had sided with the Romans and had little practical connection with the people. So that the profound teachings of Judaism be passed down, the laity developed the synagogues. Literally, a synagogue is a place of meeting where they could learn the law and the other traditions of their people. There were readings from the Bible and then a literate person would give a commentary.  A learned Rabbi was rarely available, so someone would read the writings of an established teacher. Not exciting, but effective and it was the best way for a Jew who wished to remain faithful to his religion and people to advance. Thus, any role in the synagogue was highly coveted. 

Those who were to become the Apostles knew this and although we should not doubt the sincerity of their belief in and profound attraction to Jesus following him was a way to be acknowledged as a rabbi and attain social and perhaps financial advancement. They envisioned themselves as leading synagogues in the tradition of Jesus throughout Judea and Galilee. 

This is of course not a bad thing. Today Paul instructs his protégé Timothy on how to be a good local leader. Keeping the individual churches functioning is very important and requires the virtues of prudence and moderation. But it is not enough or more precisely it must be balanced with boldness and sometimes impetuousness to prevent the Church from being too focused on herself. 

Today’s Gospel passage has been called the greatest short story ever written. Its power is undeniable, and we must admire Luke’s economy of words. Yet it is misnamed. The younger son we call Prodigal appears only briefly. The father, however, is found in each of the five episodes of the parable. Indeed, when we remember that prodigal originally meant extravagant or imprudent it is the father who seems to better fit the description. He gave his love totally and unreservedly not only to the impetuous younger son but to the cold-hearted older one. Neither one of them seemed to appreciate or respond to it.  I think we might better call this the parable of gratuitous love. 

The dictionary definition of gratuitous is “lacking a good reason” and the synonyms are unjustified and unearned. The first example supplied is ‘gratuitous violence”. It has a theological meaning as well which was not commonly used until Popes Benedict and Francis revived it. (see below 1) 

They both believed that living in a consumerist society where we can easily define ourselves by what we have, not who we are, and love can be made a mere transaction. If you do this for me, I will do that for you, and we will call it love. It is very rational and perhaps more common than we are comfortable admitting.  

Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus’ injunction that “when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled the lame, the blind: blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” The next day the parish supplied volunteers to feed participants in a workshop for asylum seekers. I would like to thank those who responded. Some of the stories were truly heartbreaking but the actions of so many of our members were heart-mending. This was truly putting flesh onto the Gospel and weight into the truism that a Mass should be judged not by how we feel leaving Church on the weekends but by what we do in our community on the weekdays. 

Later that week several buses deposited about 200 more asylum seekers on Court Street. They were told to go to Catholic Charities. There was of course no warning and by Friday Catholic Charites had no supplies. As you may have seen in our parish email, we do not know if people will be sent up this weekend and if they are St Charles will most likely be the first institution they will find. What then does Jesus’ remark today “This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish” mean for us? 

My first reaction was “Ouch, that comes close,” After remembering the background for the passage, my second was “That hit a bullseye.”