Pastor's Letter

Rich Man, Poor Man

This Sunday, we hear another parable from the Gospel of Luke: The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. 
 
Lazarus is a poor man who a wealthy man walks by (possibly even over) each day as he goes home.  After a while, the rich man gets so used to it he basically doesn’t acknowledge that Lazarus exits.  The rich man simply ignores him.
 
When both men die, the rich man finds himself in the netherworld and Lazarus in heaven.  When the rich man pleads for mercy from Abraham (Abraham is in a role much like St. Peter—the gatekeeper to the entrance of heaven), he still ignores Lazarus to communicate with Abraham directly.
 
The rich man, even in the afterlife, doesn’t grasp the sin of his ways: he is self-focused to the point he can’t see anyone else; they either don’t matter or become an annoyance rather than a human being.  But Jesus shows us another way.  It’s not material things that matter, but compassion, respect, dignity and treating others the way we want to be treated.
 
It’s a gospel message, and one as Catholics we value.  It’s definitely a value here at St. Hubert, where week after week we reach out to help those in need—with food, clothing, assistance, counsel, and basic needs. 
 
It’s an amazing gift to be part of community where parishioners quietly work in the background in ministries like Helping Hands, Community Life, our Sharing Parish program, the Job & Networking Ministry, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Ministers of Care, and other groups that seek to help to those in nee d, especially those no one else often notices.  We don’t ignore or walk over others, but lend a hand and give of ourselves.
 
Whenever there’s a call in our community to bring something in to help others, our community responds—overwhelmingly. 
 

Fr. Gene Nowak to Preside Next Sunday Next Sunday, October 6, at the 7:30 and 9:00 AM Masses, Fr. Gene Nowak returns to St. Hubert.  Fr. Gene, now a retired priest of the Archdiocese, was the third pastor at St. Hubert, serving from 1991 through 2005.

t’s interesting: in the gospel, Jesus tells us the name of the poor man, who it turns out valued a relationship with God.  He never gives us the name of the rich man, who only seemed to care for himself without thinking about how to honor God by seeing the needs of others until it was too late.  Jesus hears the cries of the poor.  They have names, faces, hearts and souls.  And they’re precious to God, which is why we take the time to do what we can to help.
 
May God bless you in all the ways you reach out to help others.  God notices your goodness and kindness, and so do those you’re helping. 
 
      —Fr. Mike