Fr Erik Tjeunfin, sx
Our Sunday readings, especially the gospel, remind me of our dog. In Mongo Bendugu Parish, the community where I am now, we have a dog named Mongo. This dog has witnessed the joy and the challenge of our mission. Every time we come back from the pastoral visitations, Mongo is the first one to welcome us. He always approaches the people friendly when they call him by name. Since we have sold fish, he welcomes and escorts the costumer friendly. Interestingly Every morning we go to church (400-meter distance), he always comes with us and lies down in front of the church doors. Mongo is a good companion of us in the mission compound. He is friendly and religious.
In the first reading today, Prophet Amos who is known as a prophet of social justice declares the Word of God addressed to the rich and the authorities who lived a luxurious life and neglected the poor and the needy. “They are lying on ivory beds…dine on lambs from the flock…they drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest oil for anointing themselves, but about the ruin of Joseph they do not care at all” (Am 6:4-6). Instead of sacrificing themselves to serve their own people, they sacrifice their own people and take advantage of the position they have. They even sell the people for a pair of sandals (cf Am 2:6). This was indeed a crime and scandalous before God. Why did it happen? There was no justice nor uprightness. There was no inner desire within them to live justly. As a result, the society was spent and corrupted.
In the second reading, encountering some people who corrupted Timothy’s community with false teaching, St Paul reminded Timothy as a man of God to be saintly, religious, patient and gentle. However, St Paul also encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith in his dealing with the case. Instead of running away or neglecting the community, Timothy should hold on to the right teachings and defend the community. In today’s Gospel, while encountering the Pharisees who were lovers of money, Jesus narrated for them the story about the rich man and the poor Lazarus. The unidentified rich man so busy to enjoy himself so that he had no time to go out to meet Lazarus. He did not even care to find out who was outside his gate, but only his dogs ‘greeted’ and consoled poor Lazarus. The dogs were more kind than him who had a stony heart. The dogs had a sense of compassion and companionship while the rich man lost his sense of humanity. The fallen food, its scent, the sound of the plates, spoons, and music of the rich man were the flavour and sniff of life intended to be shared with others. However, the rich man failed to share anything with Lazarus. Interestingly, here the rich man does not have a name or identity. However, God saw all that the rich man failed to do to Lazarus and ‘waited’ for him at the last judgment. Without knowing, the separation created by him with Lazarus created a separation also in the afterlife. We can say, hell was created by him - the rich man - not by God.
Thus, through the Sunday readings God calls us to live in a human and saintly way by helping and caring for others. We should be just and upright to all especially the poor. The good and holy desire within our hearts and minds must be made real in our ‘good fight of faith’ for a change in our society, family, school and church. The hardness of our hearts as regards the Word of God can bring oppression, slavery, violence etc as we see in the first reading and even in our daily lives. God is merciful to us, let us be merciful and compassionate to others. We can learn also from the dogs in the story and the gospel to be faithful and close to others and console them in their sorrowful conditions. To end this reflection, I want to quote what Kazi Nazrul Islam said in his poem about ‘Humanity’. In the poem he describes how a priest encountered a hungry travelling beggar. He says: “Just to avoid sharing a little of your sumptuous meal with a beggar, you resort to your doorman-beating up and chasing away a god! But all that gets recorded-who knows if you're ever forgiven by the humiliated goddess. Friend, you're full of greed with a blinder of selfishness over your eyes. Otherwise you'd recognize the god serving you as a coolie.”
Fr Erik Tjeunfin,sx
Our Sunday readings, especially the gospel, remind me of our dog. In Mongo Bendugu Parish, the community where I am now, we have a dog named Mongo. This dog has witnessed the joy and the challenge of our mission. Every time we come back from the pastoral visitations, Mongo is the first one to welcome us. He always approaches the people friendly when they call him by name. Since we have sold fish, he welcomes and escorts the costumer friendly. Interestingly Every morning we go to church (400-meter distance), he always comes with us and lies down in front of the church doors. Mongo is a good companion of us in the mission compound. He is friendly and religious.
In the first reading today, Prophet Amos who is known as a prophet of social justice declares the Word of God addressed to the rich and the authorities who lived a luxurious life and neglected the poor and the needy. “They are lying on ivory beds…dine on lambs from the flock…they drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest oil for anointing themselves, but about the ruin of Joseph they do not care at all” (Am 6:4-6). Instead of sacrificing themselves to serve their own people, they sacrifice their own people and take advantage of the position they have. They even sell the people for a pair of sandals (cf Am 2:6). This was indeed a crime and scandalous before God. Why did it happen? There was no justice nor uprightness. There was no inner desire within them to live justly. As a result, the society was spent and corrupted.
In the second reading, encountering some people who corrupted Timothy’s community with false teaching, St Paul reminded Timothy as a man of God to be saintly, religious, patient and gentle. However, St Paul also encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith in his dealing with the case. Instead of running away or neglecting the community, Timothy should hold on to the right teachings and defend the community. In today’s Gospel, while encountering the Pharisees who were lovers of money, Jesus narrated for them the story about the rich man and the poor Lazarus. The unidentified rich man so busy to enjoy himself so that he had no time to go out to meet Lazarus. He did not even care to find out who was outside his gate, but only his dogs ‘greeted’ and consoled poor Lazarus. The dogs were more kind than him who had a stony heart. The dogs had a sense of compassion and companionship while the rich man lost his sense of humanity. The fallen food, its scent, the sound of the plates, spoons, and music of the rich man were the flavour and sniff of life intended to be shared with others. However, the rich man failed to share anything with Lazarus. Interestingly, here the rich man does not have a name or identity. However, God saw all that the rich man failed to do to Lazarus and ‘waited’ for him at the last judgment. Without knowing, the separation created by him with Lazarus created a separation also in the afterlife. We can say, hell was created by him - the rich man - not by God.
Thus, through the Sunday readings God calls us to live in a human and saintly way by helping and caring for others. We should be just and upright to all especially the poor. The good and holy desire within our hearts and minds must be made real in our ‘good fight of faith’ for a change in our society, family, school and church. The hardness of our hearts as regards the Word of God can bring oppression, slavery, violence etc as we see in the first reading and even in our daily lives. God is merciful to us, let us be merciful and compassionate to others. We can learn also from the dogs in the story and the gospel to be faithful and close to others and console them in their sorrowful conditions. To end this reflection, I want to quote what Kazi Nazrul Islam said in his poem about ‘Humanity’. In the poem he describes how a priest encountered a hungry travelling beggar. He says: “Just to avoid sharing a little of your sumptuous meal with a beggar, you resort to your doorman-beating up and chasing away a god! But all that gets recorded-who knows if you're ever forgiven by the humiliated goddess. Friend, you're full of greed with a blinder of selfishness over your eyes. Otherwise you'd recognize the god serving you as a coolie.”
Fr Erik Tjeunfin,sx