26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today's Gospel we hear of the rich man and Lazarus both before then after their deaths; after death, Lazarus find himself in the bosom of Abraham (i.e. heaven) while the rich man is in the netherworld (i.e. hell). What sin did the rich man commit? There are two kinds of sin in Scripture, and in our culture we tend to consider one kind of sin much more than the other: sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins are choices that we make - in our thoughts, words and/or actions - where we put distance between us and God. Those can be choices of commission (where we actively do something that puts distance between us and God), or choices of omission (where we choose NOT to do things that will maintain our relationship with God and draw us closer to Him). God is alive and at work in this world! God is on the move! If we put our relationship with God on hold, standing statically in one place, we don't pick up right where we left off; since God is on the move, when we pick up again it means that we've allowed distance to grow between us and the God who is always moving and yet always beckoning to us, "Come, follow me!" The rich man is not cited for sins of commission, today, but sins of omission - complacency - all those choices that he made NOT to make God the priority in his life. As disciples of Jesus Christ, where are areas that we have become complacent? How can we recommit to continual growth in a life lived with the Lord?
