Luke 16: 19-31

World Day of Migrants and Refugees (Gospel – Luke 16: 19-31)

           God has no favourites – God loves each one of us equally. Is that part of our understanding of why Jesus died to save us all? But here, clear favouritism is shown – God is on the side of the poor. Rich cast to hell and to suffering. Could it really be so?

The message from this story and indeed the life of Jesus, is that what does not find favour with God is not so much people getting wealthy, as using their riches simply to feather their own nest and not sharing their resources with others to ensure that no one is left without. There is a responsibility on all to bring the kingdom of God to reality here on earth. The kingdom that Jesus often speaks about is not just some abstract thing, something far off, some after life. Jesus  desires it to be here and now. That is why he favoured the poor, the outcasts, the lepers because the chosen people were making others poor and outcasts and lepers.

Today is a day of prayer for migrants and refugees. It is a difficult topic for many but we would do well to reflect honestly and ask whether our practices, our lives, contribute to the cycle that results in poverty increasing and people leaving their home?

This Gospel presents us with quite a paradox because it invites us to reflect very carefully on our lives, on our words, on our actions to make sure that we are not focused solely on                    ourselves.

It’s all very well being filled with faith and love, being patient and gentle as Paul puts it in his writing; but when we see the sin of how humankind is affecting climate change, the sin of how people most in need are treated and rejected by many, the words of Blessed Archbishop Oscar Romero speak very clearly to all of that in a faithful response to this Gospel when he said

“The Church must suffer for speaking the truth, for pointing out sin, for uprooting sin. No one wants to have a sore spot touched, and therefore a society with so many sores twitches when someone has the courage to touch it and say: “you have to treat that. You have to get rid of that. Believe in Christ. Be converted.”