396. Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

Meditations no. 610 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

At the end of our lives we are accountable to God.

THE LORD speaks today in the Gospel of some truths that shed great light on our lives. He teaches us that earthly existence is directed to an ultimate end; that, beyond the boundaries of temporal life, there is an eternity that is entered after a judgment and sentence of the Supreme Judge - of reward or punishment, according to the works of each one - while showing us the way to reach Heaven. He is the Lord of life, the Son of God who became man in order to obtain for us that Life with a capital H, obtained through his death and his glorious resurrection.

There was a rich man, he tells us, who was dressed in purple and the finest linen, and every day he held splendid banquets. But a poor man named Lazarus sat at his door, covered with sores, desiring to be satisfied with what fell from the rich man’s table. And even the dogs came to lick his sores.

Lazarus begged what was to be provided for him out of a duty of charity and even of strict justice. The rich man, with the doors of his house and his heart closed, lived insensitive to the pain of his neighbor. Abandoned by men, but not by God, the beggar waited in eternal destiny, the true dwelling to which the children of God are called; while the rich man placed his hope only in the goods here below.

St. Josemaría advised us to meditate frequently on the last days-on the last things of human life-in order to be prepared to receive the call of our Father God at any moment. I often tell you that Opus Dei … is great for living and great for dying. We are not afraid of life, nor afraid of death. Out there, many people are afraid of life, and many more are terrified of death. In the Work, neither of the two fears is admitted. Only those who have reserved something for themselves, those who have not given everything to God our Lord, are afraid.

So it came to pass that the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died and was buried. And while his body was placed in a rich mausoleum, his soul was sent to hell. This is the great tragedy of the greedy man, who has avoided the encounter with God and has not wanted to recognize him in his brother in need. St. Augustine notes that the Lord “kept silent the name of the rich man and spoke the name of the beggar (…). God kept silent the name of the rich man because he did not find it written in heaven. He said the name of the beggar because he found it written there; indeed, he commanded that it be written.” And he continues: “The lives of both have been exposed. God is able to give health in this life, to eliminate poverty and to grant what is necessary to the Christian. But if this did not exist, what would you choose: to be like the beggar or to be like the rich man? Do not be deceived. Listen to the end and see what the wrong choice is.”

God is certainly merciful, but he is also just, and repays each one according to his works. For this reason, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “every man, after dying, receives in his immortal soul his eternal retribution in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ, either through a purification (…), or to enter immediately into the beatitude of heaven (…), or to condemn himself immediately forever.” We can imagine this judgment as a simple conversation with Jesus, in which we will have to sincerely pronounce only one phrase: ego I love you, I love you. Some will only be able to say ego, I, and will be left alone with themselves; many others will say ego amo, I love, and will need purification; those who will truly know how to say the whole phrase will already be able to enjoy God’s love fully in Heaven.

Retribution after death.

THE rich man in the parable realizes too late that spiritual misery is far worse than material poverty. While he was in hell, in the midst of torments, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom in the distance; and he cried out, saying, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in these flames.”

Using a graphic way of expressing himself, the Lord puts this answer on Abraham’s lips: “Son, remember that you received good things during your lifetime, and Lazarus received evil; now here he is comforted and you are tormented. In addition to all this, a great chasm stands between you and us, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can they pass from there to us.”

God, infinitely just, will not fail to give human actions what they deserve. Every injustice will be punished; every good deed will be rewarded. That retribution-in this world or in the next-is the solution to the enigma of so many events that seem to show God’s “impotence” in human history. Personal honor, often trampled on; truth often distorted; inalienable rights violated; so many innocent lives murdered; all that accumulation of evil that cries out to Heaven, in the great and in the small, will be restored, rewarded, redeemed.

St. Josemaría, full of supernatural vision and charity towards all, thus explained the mysterious meaning of God’s plans for freedom and human responsibility. Perhaps one of my children, carried away by their fervor, their zeal and their enthusiasm, if they could speak to me now, would ask me, with great respect for God our Lord, how it is that so many wicked people on earth triumph in their personal lives, and have everything: riches, honors, command, joys for their sensuality. And I would go on to wonder how it is that so many governments-we see this throughout history-can for years and years trample on the freedom of men, of entire peoples, who-subjugated, violated-have to live their faith heroically.

I will only give this son of mine one reason: there is no one so bad in the world - I don’t like to talk about bad people and good people: I don’t divide men into good and bad - there are no people with such a mean and miserable intention who have not done something virtuous in their lives. God must also reward that good they have done, and the reward must be given to them on earth, because afterwards it will no longer be possible: the ox that is going to be taken to the slaughter is also fattened.

Let us learn from the patience of God, who grants time for conversion and is slow to punish sins. Let the righteous Job serve as an example. There is no human explanation for his suffering, it seems an arbitrary and unjust punishment. Job cries out and reproaches God for his suffering, but then repents of his complaints. We also notice, at times, the temptation of impatience, when the Lord seems not to listen to the pleas of so many innocent people. God’s seeming silence may well be a purification - as in the case of Job - so that we learn to love Him for Himself, without seeking any reward here below.

But let us return to the parable of today’s Mass. Not all those who enjoy goods on earth will be punished, but those who have closed their hearts to the needs of their neighbor. The rich did not do good even with what was left over; this is the reason for their harsh condemnation. In the Work, the Christian virtue of detachment and sobriety leads us to live detached not only from the superfluous, but from any material possession. We use material means, we take care of them and procure them for apostolic work, but we do not attach our hearts to them. We find opportunities to be attentive to the needs of others, especially in our ordinary work, carried out with love, that is, in a spirit of service. Charity, enlightened by faith, will always be able to discover new opportunities to serve, it will be able to recognize the many “Lazaruses” that exist in the world, also among people who live like the rich man and his brothers and sisters, and who must be converted when they still have time to do so.

Examinations of conscience, well done, help us to anticipate in some way the particular judgment.

THE Lord’s teaching concludes with a new request from the rich man, addressed to the patriarch Abraham. He recalls that his brothers, who are still on earth, live in a situation as lamentable as his own, and are on the way to being eternally damned. In the metaphorical language of the parable, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus, poor and despised in human eyes, to admonish them and to do a work of spiritual mercy with them.

“I beg you then, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them so that they may not also come to this place of torment.” But Abraham answered, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them!” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if anyone from the dead goes to them, they will be converted.” And he said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if one rises from the dead.”

These words are a call not to wait for miraculous or extraordinary interventions from God, but to rely on the greatness of the ordinary, as St. Josemaría instilled in us. What the brothers of the rich man could not experience, has been granted to us, because Christ, risen from the dead, has made available to us everything we need to believe and convert, to attain salvation: his words of eternal life, contained in Sacred Scripture and in the Tradition of the Church; the sacraments, sources of grace and forgiveness; especially his life-giving flesh, which is given to us as food in the Eucharist.

Among the ordinary aids that God gives us for our sanctification, in addition to the sacraments, the means of formation that we have in Opus Dei stand out. In this way, with a well-formed conscience, we will be able to act with personal freedom and responsibility, finding the way of acting that, in each situation, best corresponds to God’s Will. Above all, fraternal correction and Confidence are a wonderful support that we need. Even in the means of collective formation, we are periodically reminded of themes that must not be forgotten and that keep us vibrant in our joyful journey towards holiness.

However, even if we had so many means, without a well-made examination of conscience we would be blind. We would not know how to apply doctrine to the moments of daily life. Saint Paul already stressed the importance of personal examination: if we examined ourselves, we would not be condemned. Therefore, by taking care of the various moments of examination during the day, we can anticipate in a certain way the particular judgment, moved by love: Does not the desire shine in your soul that your Father-God will be happy when he has to judge you?

This is the way of behaving that the Apostle recommended to his disciple Timothy, as recorded in the Second Reading. Seek justice, piety, faith, charity, constancy and meekness. Fight the noble combat of faith. Conquer the eternal life to which you have been called and for which you made solemn profession in the presence of many witnesses. I command you in the presence of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who gave the solemn testimony before Pontius Pilate, to keep what is commanded, without blemish or blame, until the manifestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ; a manifestation that will be made manifest at the right time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

The Virgin Mary led a life full of love for God and for men. She carried out at all times, with piety and understanding, her ordinary work without external brilliance, to such an extent that we invoke her as Mother of mercy; and her faith never wavered, not even at the foot of the Cross. She will obtain for us the grace to live always with our eyes fixed on eternity, in the midst of earthly cares.