26th Sunday in OT 2019 - Living no longer for ourselves

In my bulletin column this weekend, I spend a few paragraphs on the life, spirituality, and lessons of the great Saint of the Poor, St. Vincent de Paul, for Friday, September 27, was his feast day, he who is known as the “Apostle of Charity”. St. Vincent devoted his life to charitable service to the hungry, the homeless, war refugees, neglected elderly men, women, and children, and those who had been spiritually abandoned. He set up many houses for the poor, crippled and sick, and personally cared for those with contagious disease during the plague.

Vincent’s early life is quite fascinating: he was the son of a poor, but pious farmer in southwestern France in 1581. Even though it meant a great sacrifice for his family, his father, knowing of the boy’s intellectual gifts and believing him to have a vocation to the priesthood, payed for his studies and encouraged his vocation. A genius, mastering his philosophical and theological training with ease, Vincent was ordained a priest at the incredibly young age of 20.

And, as a charming young priest, Vincent moved easily in among the higher echelons of French society, he even became chaplain to the queen of France. But, his life took a dramatic turn, when travelling home from Marseilles, he was captured by Turkish pirates and sold into slavery by Muslim slavers. He escaped back to Europe after two years, with his slave master, who eventually converted to Catholicism.

This time spent as a slave deeply impacted the young priest. He returned to Paris, and devoted himself to the poor. “It is not sufficient for me to love God if I do not love my neighbor,” he said, “…I belong to God and to the poor.”

Today, nearly, 360 years after his death, the relic of St. Vincent’s heart is still perfectly incorrupt— meaning that, after nearly four centuries, his heart has not decomposed as biological matter normally does. If you don’t believe me, you can see his incorrupt heart and venerate it yourself at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. His heart, transformed by tireless service and charity shows the powerful effect that God’s love has, even on our bodies. Charity is a powerful medicine, perhaps the most powerful.

May our hearts, in time, become like his, but today, let us compare the heart of St. Vincent, with the rich man in today’s Gospel.

It’s certainly a provocative Gospel: Lazarus, covered with sores, being licked and harassed by dogs, longing to eat just the crumbs from the rich man’s table. The rich man, what would we say about his heart? For his cold heart, for his self-absorption, he is condemned to hell. He is tormented, he longs to quench his eternal thirst, but is unable, his pleading is unanswered.

Why exactly is the rich man sent to hell? It’s not simply because he was rich.  Nor are we told that he earned his money in an immoral way. He wasn’t selling weapons to terrorists or involved in human trafficking. It’s not because he directly refused to help Lazarus, either. He didn’t mock Lazarus or abuse him physically or emotionally. Rather, the rich man is condemned to Hell because he did nothing. There was a poor man at his gate and he did nothing. The rich man was so caught up in himself that he made no effort at all to help another who was struggling and dying at his front door. The rich man’s self-absorption made him deaf to Lazarus’ silent plea for help.

The Gospel is the remedy for self-absorption. We celebrate St. Vincent de Paul, and so many of the saints, because allowed God’s grace, the love of Jesus, to transform them. Many of the saints had periods of life where they were self-absorbed: St. Francis of Assisi and St. Augustine had downright sinful pasts. St. Paul murdered Christians. St. Mary of Egypt was a prostitute, St. Angela of Foligno, a vain, greedy, materialistic Adulteress. And really no saint is born a saint. Rather, each, in their own way, cooperate with God’s grace to transform their hearts—to be men and women, not just for themselves, but for others.

You’ve likely noticed that during Ordinary Time I like to use the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer. For one, because it contains a beautiful recap of salvation history: God fashioning creation to reflect his goodness, God coming to the aid of sinful man by sending prophets and finally his son, who preaches the Gospel and dies for our sins. And then, my favorite line: God sends the Holy Spirit, “that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us", echoing St. Paul's word to the oft self-absorbed Corinthians.

The rich man in the Gospel walled himself in to his mansion. He lived only for himself. He concerned himself not with the pleas of the hungry, but merely with feeding his own appetites. And in shutting himself off from the poor, he shut himself off from God.

So, how can we live no longer for ourselves but for Him who died and rose again for us? Like the saints, we are called to do something. And it’s different for each of us. Perhaps you are called to physical service, cooking meals and feeding the hungry. Perhaps you are called to spiritual service: to fervent prayer. Perhaps you have great fortitude for doing penances, fasting.

Our St. Vincent de Paul Society is in particular need at this time, not simply for donations, but for volunteers, we’ve had several past volunteers move from the parish, and we need folks to answer the calls for help in our neighborhood, To go to the homes of the needy, to assess their needs and bring them the food and clothing they need, to organize our St. Vincent de Paul collections, like blanket drive. We need men and women for this ministry. So please consider the call to do something.

Are you looking for a stronger, richer experience of God in your life? St. Vincent said, “Go to the poor: you will find God.” So, please consider joining our st. Vincent de paul. Send me an email or leave a message on the Vincent Paul voice mail.

Lazarus comes in many forms. He is the physically hungry, he is the widow whose family no longer comes to visit, he’s the infant in the womb in danger of being aborted for whom we pray during these 40 days for life, he is the abandoned child in need of a safe home in which to live, a foster home, or adoption; he’s the young college student who has been inculcated with the errors of our secular culture who needs to sit with someone who can clearly articulate the Truths of Our Faith; he’s the hardened sinner who needs our prayers and penances for the sake of his soul. What can you do to help Lazarus, there’s got to be something?
May we turn our ears to the cries of the poor, and answer those cries with charity, living not for ourselves, but for the glory of God and salvation of souls.