Faith in Action: Serving Christ in the Poor

Homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, September 29, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 4:00 Vigil Mass & 12:00 Mass
Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

Audio Recording

In today’s Gospel we hear the story of Lazarus and the rich man, who didn’t HATE Lazarus; he simply IGNORED him. The question we must reflect on today is whether or not we, too, are ignoring the poor at our doorstep? We must realize that our attitude toward the poor has eternal consequences.

The Word of God today could not be clearer. In our first reading, Amos warns against complacency. The psalm proclaims that the Lord secures justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. Then Jesus gives us a sobering parable: the rich man and Lazarus. Together, these readings issue one urgent call to conversion, to action, and to service of the poor.

Amos thunders against those who lounge on ivory couches, eat lambs and calves, drink wine by the bowlful, and anoint themselves with fine oils, yet remain unmoved by the suffering of their brothers and sisters. God is not condemning comfort or beauty in itself, but INDIFFERENCE. The sin Jesus calls out is not enjoying the good things of life; the sin is enjoying them while ignoring those who have nothing.

He tells us about a rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, who dines sumptuously. At his gate lies a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, longing for scraps. He doesn’t care for this man in any way…only the dogs lick his wounds. The contrast is jarring: one feasts, the other starves; one is admired, the other is invisible.

The rich man does not lift a finger. When they die, the reversal is complete. Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man is in torment. What condemned him was not overt cruelty but cold indifference.

This Gospel challenged me, as it should all of us. In preparing this homily, I was inspired to visit Our Lady’s Pantry in Wimauma, a ministry affiliated with Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay that feeds hundreds of families each week. I wanted to see how I could help.

What I saw moved me. Shelves of canned and dry goods, a walk-in freezer filled with meats, hundreds of boxes filled with donated fruit and vegetables, volunteers packing boxes, and a line of cars waiting hours for food. Yet despite this well-organized outreach and the many people of all ages who help, the pantry is still short on helpers. They need more volunteers.

Many of the jobs are perfectly suited for seniors: preparing boxes of food, sorting and organizing donations and greeting families. None of this requires advanced skills. It simply requires willing hands and an open heart. You can learn more about how you can help in Monday’s POP Weekly email newsletter. If you don’t receive this, you should! Sign up today on our parish website. There are also some brochures on the table in the narthex you can pickup.

I admit that my visit to Our Lady’s Pantry unsettled me. It was one of those moments when God asked me, “Are you doing enough? Are you only PREACHING the Gospel, or are you LIVING IT through concrete acts of mercy?” In that moment I was convicted to join in and do my part. I clearly understood how easy it is for me to enjoy life’s comforts and not notice Lazarus at my gate.

In our second reading today, Saint Paul tells Timothy, “Compete well for the faith.” Faith is not passive. It’s not only reciting prayers or attending Mass, although these are vital. Faith is a pursuit. It’s a struggle. It’s obedience and discipline. It is action. To follow Christ is to EMBODY His mercy in our daily lives. This is the heart of conversion: seeing, loving, and acting. It is discipleship in motion.

The Church has always pointed us to the corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead.

And these are not abstractions, my friends. They are practical, sometimes messy, always necessary, ways of loving Christ Himself in the poor. Jesus says in Matthew twenty-five, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Here’s the bottom line: the way that we treat Lazarus at our gate is the way we treat Christ.

So what does this mean for us today? Three things.

FIRST, let this Gospel BOTHER you. If it unsettles you, GOOD! It should. Most of us live in relative comfort. Compared to much of the world, we are all wealthy. And with that blessing comes responsibility.

SECOND, do something, something concrete. At Our Lady’s Pantry, Lazarus is not a parable. He is real. He reveals himself as the grandmother raising grandchildren on a fixed income, as the migrant worker who lost work in the fields, as a single mother trying to make rent…all of whom need the food they distribute.,

THIRD, change your perspective. Today’s Gospel gives the poor man a name, Lazarus, while the rich man remains nameless. God knows the poor by name. Do we? Or do we just walk past them, absorbed in our own concerns, thinking “someone else will take care of that”?

Finally, remember the ETERNAL perspective. When he dies, the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers and Abraham replies, “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.”

We already know what to do. The prophets and Jesus have spoken. We know the teachings of the Church. Jesus’ commands to perform the works of mercy are crystal clear. The only question is whether or not we will do what He tells us to do, will we really listen to Him?

My friends, today’s readings teach us that faith without action is not faith at all. As today’s Gospel makes clear, to ignore Lazarus at our gate is to risk eternal separation from God. But to notice, to act, to love through works of mercy is to walk that narrow path of discipleship and the road to eternal life with Christ.

So let us not be complacent. Let us not be content with fine garments and full plates. Let us open our eyes to the poor, the hungry, the lonely, the forgotten. Let us serve Christ in them. And let us, each in our own way, step out of our comfort zones and meet Lazarus where he waits for us. Because it is Christ Himself who is waiting for us there, and our encounter with Him in His poor will bring us peace and true fulfillment.

I know I’ve decided to regularly volunteer at Our Lady’s Pantry to do my part…how about you? What will you do to help those in need right here in Sun City Center? If all we’re able to do is write a check to a worthy organization, that’s great and always very helpful. But many of us, many of us can clearly do more than that.

Think about it…pray hard about it…what is God calling YOU to do to serve Him in His poor?

God bless you.

Visit Our Lady’s Pantry Website