{"id":1162,"date":"2019-09-26T11:45:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T16:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1162"},"modified":"2019-11-22T11:56:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T16:56:16","slug":"complacency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1162","title":{"rendered":"Complacency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

26th<\/sup> Sunday\nin Ordinary Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Amos 6: 1a, 4-7; 1\nTim 6: 11-16; Lk 16: 19-31<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deacon Larry\nBrockman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we hear about complacency!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Amos tells us of the complacency of the Judeans in\nthe Southern Kingdom of Israel when their brothers in the Northern Kingdom were\nconquered by Assyria and sent off in exile. \nAmos correctly predicts their doom, because the South was soon sent into\nexile in punishment for their complacency- they stood by and did nothing.  Their comfortable lives were ended when they\nwere sent into exile.  This was\ncomplacency of an entire people- the people of the Southern Kingdom    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in our Gospel today, we hear of a complacent person.  The rich man Divas was happy with his own\nworldly life, yet complacent over the plight of Lazarus who was daily visible\nto him.  This is a singular incident in\nthe Gospel, where names are given in what seems like a parable.  And the judgment the rich man receives is\nharsh indeed- everlasting punishment.    This\nperson is not just simply complacent.  Rather,\nhe doesn\u2019t consider his actions sinful at all. \nMost probably this person considered himself a abiding by the Mosaic Law.  He was just enjoying his God-given\nprosperity.  You see, in first century\nJerusalem, people believed that God rewarded those who kept his law and\npunished those who did not.  So in his\nmind, the rich man\u2019s prosperity was proof that he was righteous; he simply left\nLazarus alone in the punishment he had brought on himself.  Initially Jesus\u2019 audience would have had this\nview as well.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the dialog that Jesus describes between Abraham and the\nrich man shatters this view.  Because Abraham\ntells him that he did not listen to Moses and the prophets.  For the Mosaic law required that a portion of\na person\u2019s wealth be shared with the poor. The rich man does not dispute this,\nalmost an admission of guilt.  Now other\nelements of the story amplify the rich man\u2019s selfishness, and an absence of his\ncontrition.  Because the fine purple\ngarments and the sumptuous dining reveal the true nature of the rich man\u2019s\nheart.  He is living an extravagant life;\nhe is putting on airs.  The rich man was focused\non his present life, as if that were all there was to life.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now after death, the rich man recognized Lazarus from his\nplace of torment; but he still expected Lazarus to wait on him in his troubles.  Yes, he is sorry that he is in torment, but he\nis not repentant because he still believes himself above Lazarus.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus uses this story to make it abundantly clear that we\ncannot be complacent in the face of the suffering of others; rather, we have a\nresponsibility to pay attention to what is going on around us.  We have a responsibility to show compassion\nand share the gifts that God has given us.   \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to fall into complacency if our focus is on this\nworld and ourselves.  But we can lose\neternal life by being complacent.  That\u2019s\nwhat happened to the rich man.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul tells us this morning what our real focus on life\nshould be.  We are to pursue\nrighteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness in our daily\nlives.  And we are to lay hold of eternal\nlife as the focus.  He says that these\nthings follow after we make a \u201cnoble confession\u201d.  The noble confession is our conversion, a\nconversion from a life which is focused on this world  to a focus on doing God\u2019s will in seeking eternal\nlife; that\u2019s what the confession is all about. \nIt is an awakening in our inner most being about the fact that life in\nthis world is not what life is all about and a realization that relationships,\nespecially our relationship with God, are what is lasting.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it seems to me that our current society is full of\nparadoxes when it comes to complacency in the face of suffering.  Indeed, our country provides a tremendous\nportion of the relief services for the troubled spots throughout the world.  And Americans, have a long history of not\nbeing complacent as the Southern kingdom of Israel was in its day.  For example, Americans didn\u2019t ignore the\nevils of Hitler and Stalin; we were decidedly not complacent.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about us as individuals?  During the devastation in the Bahamas caused\nby Hurricane Dorian we saw a tremendous outpouring of compassion.  The response was quick and meaningful over a\nbroad spectrum of our community- hardly the response of a complacent people.  But how long did it last?  How long was it be before we resumed our lives\nand put this suffering behind us?  It\u2019s\nonly natural, when we live in relative comfort, to fall into complacency.  After all, out of sight; out of mind- that\u2019s\nthe paradox.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the reality is that there are Lazaruses all around us\nall the time- the person stopped by the side of the road with a flat; the\nneighbor who just lost their spouse; a friend who lost his job; someone who was\ndiagnosed with a terminal illness; and many, many other similar situations.  We can continue to pass over these situations\nin the humdrum of life and the relative comfort of our lives.  But that is what complacency is, isn\u2019t it?    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now this parish is blessed by a very active St. Vincent de\nPaul convention.  They are celebrating (celebrated)\ntheir anniversary this weekend at this (the 10:30) Mass.  They are there to help the Lazaruses of our\nworld; the ones that are all around us.  They\ndo incredible work; but they could do so much more.  Contact them to see how you can help.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Amos 6: 1a, 4-7; 1 Tim 6: 11-16; Lk 16: 19-31 Deacon Larry Brockman Today we hear about complacency!  First, Amos tells us of the complacency of the Judeans in the Southern Kingdom of Israel when their brothers in the Northern Kingdom were conquered by Assyria and sent off in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[465],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1163,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}