Discerning
one’s moral strength: In today’s Gospel,
Luke 16: 19-31, the evangelist presents the story of Dives and
Lazarus. Dives, a rich man, ignores the needs of Lazarus, a poor, very
ill man who sat outside the gates
leading to the rich man’s property.
Dives is deaf to the cries of the
poor and blind to their needs,
using all of his wealth for himself alone. On the subject of morality, he would score an “F”
on his report
card. The consequences of his choice to
live for himself alone, not sharing his wealth but ignoring the needs
of the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized and the vulnerable of his society:
eternal torment outside of the presence of God for all
eternity (See today’s Gospel, Luke 16: 19-31)!
The author
of the March 16th reflections on this Scripture passage, as given in
the March 1, 2017 issue of WORD
AMONG US, states clearing how we can
discern the moral strength of a society or of ourselves as well. The author states: “There is no getting around it. God wants us
to work together to improve the situation
of society’s weakest members. In the
end, the moral strength of any community will be measured
by how we have treated our most vulnerable
citizens, not by how we ourselves have fared.”
In what
ways am I, are you, working to improve the situation of the weakest, most
vulnerable members of our
society, of our families, of our religious communities, of our parishes? We can discern how moral we are by
the way we respond to those in need.
Given our
responsibilities to “work together to improve the situation of society’s
weakest members”, I believe,
that the government of the U.S.—the President, His Cabinet, and members of
Congress--earns an “F” in
terms of morality. How much longer, I ask, will I, will you, or will the
citizens of the U.S. support the
choices of a President, of our Senators and members of the House of
Representatives who are making choices that deny the poor and vulnerable
among us what they need to provide their
families
with adequate food, shelter, clothing, health care, and an education that prepares
them to
provide
for their future families?
How willing am I to take my moral
responsibility seriously by standing up for what is right? Am I willing to challenge unjust legislation that exploits the poor and
ignores the most vulnerable members of our country?
For what reason, I ask, might our
elected leaders be doing this? Is it not possible that they truly
want to increase the wealth of the richest among us and also line their own
pockets, no matter what the
cost to the poor and marginalized of our country, thus bringing to reality the President’s desire to
increase billionaires in our country, as he stated during his campaign for
presidency?
Final
question: How would you and I score our moral
strength? Would we give ourselves an “A,”
a “B,” a “C,” a “D,”
or an “F”?
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