Homily: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Amos 6:1a,4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; and Luke 16:19-31
28 September 2025
Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA
Is it a sin to be rich? Raise your hand if your answer is “no”! As for those of you who did not raise their hand, do I assume your answer is “yes”? If you won one hundred (100) million in the lotto, would you give it away? Let us be real. Nobody prays for poverty, right? We even consider rags to riches stories inspiring. We work to be successful and prosperous. We all strive to improve our lives because to be rich is not a bad thing.
The rich man in today’s Gospel is not described as cruel. He is not a deplorable human, despised by the people around him. In fact, the story suggests that Lazarus gladly fed off the scraps from the rich man’s table. He did not insult Lazarus. He did not throw him away. Actually, he knew him by name, recognising him immediately in the after-life and asking for him by name. “Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue…” (Luke 16:24) Why then does the rich man end up in a place of torment while Lazarus revels in comfort? The answer lies in the rich man’s indifference. Day after day, he dressed in the finest clothes and dined sumptuously while Lazarus, covered in sores, remained at his door, waiting for scraps. Only a man with a heart so full of himself could be so blind to the plight of others.
That is the danger of being comfortable and complacent. Comfort itself is not bad. However, when it makes us forget others, when it dulls our compassion, it becomes deadly for the soul. We hear a stern warning in our First Reading from the prophet Amos: “Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall…they will be the first to go into exile and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.” (Amos 6:4-7) They entertained themselves, drank wine, and pampered themselves with fine oils but were unmoved by the injustice and moral decay of Israel.
Sometimes, we spend too much time enjoying the fruits of our labour that we forget we are mere stewards of the blessings God has blessed us with. We think, we are not sinning when we buy forty (40) luxury vehicles or eighty (80) million peso chandeliers because we are not hurting anyone. The question is, are these wants or needs? If we have the capacity to help other people survive, why are we not helping? More often than not, we do not have to look far to find Lazarus. He is the child knocking on car windows at a stoplight, selling Sampaguita or wiping windshields. She is the grandmother waiting long hours in a health centre with no money for medicine. He is the farmer working the fields, yet still unable to afford rice for his own family. She is the overseas worker who sacrifices comfort, dignity, even family presence, just so her children in the Philippines can go to school and eat three (3) times a day.
Psalm 146 says: “The Lord secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146:7) God never forgets the poor — even when society does. He does not come down from heaven to hand a plate of food to the starving. That is not how He works. He blesses people with resources so they can do the work required to uplift the lives of the needy. Each one of us helps according to one’s own capacity. No matter what our status in life is, we have the capacity to give and to help. The question is: do we? If God has given us a good home, a good job, and a good family, do we close ourselves off to the suffering around us? If our home is not affected by floods during rainy season, do we sit comfortably in our air-conditioned home and remain mum when those affected have taken to the streets to clamour for justice? Do we choose to be unmoved?
Who is the Lazarus at our gate? Maybe it is not a beggar on the street, but a parish volunteer who quietly needs support; a young person in our family longing for time and attention; a co-worker struggling with debt but too embarrassed to say. The Gospel today warns us: if we let our comfort blind us, we are digging a chasm between ourselves and others — and perhaps, between ourselves and God. Nevertheless, if we open our eyes now, if we choose compassion today, then we are already building bridges toward eternity.
Finally, if God has allowed us to prosper and be wealthy, let us be grateful. We are blessed! On the other hand,, if we keep ignoring the Lazarus at our gate, then one day we may find ourselves on the wrong side of the great divide.
Lazarus and the Rich Man by Nigel Lawrence
Sunday Gospel Reflections 