In both the first reading and the gospel we hear of rich men, but in both cases their sin is not their wealth but their lack of awareness. In the Amos reading the “complacent . . . . are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph,” that is, they don’t care about the rest of Israel, their people.

Today’s a great day to do some catechesis on the social teaching of the church—but don’t say that or you’ll lose everyone’s attention! Nothing sounds worse than catechesis, unless it’s social teaching! A few useful terms will introduce the great Catholic writing on this subject and help us concentrate on the essentials.

ABRAHAM SAID, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’

In a letter dated August of 1865, Jourdon Anderson, an ex-slave living in Ohio, wrote his former master in Tennessee, Col. P. H. Anderson, who, only months after the Civil War had ended, was asking his onetime slave of 32 years to come back and work for him.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Jesus tells one his great stories to offer a lesson about the dangers of exclusion to those great purists and excluders, the Pharisees. First of all, change of status can be quick and permanent: The rich man goes from a lavish lifestyle to torment in the netherworld, while Lazarus is transported from abject beggar to the bosom of Abraham.

Long-standing images of the fires of hell owe much to the vivid description of the afterlife contained in a gospel story. A rich man (later sometimes named Dives) suffers tormenting flames after death because he ignored poor Lazarus on his doorstep throughout his life.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. —Plato