The GAP

The GAP

"Between you and us, a great chasm has been fixed."

Gospel for Sunday September 29th : Luke 16.19-31

Reflecting on this Sunday's Gospel,  Jesus presents us with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It goes like this:

Lazarus (whose name means "hope in God"), is a helpless beggar who lies every day at the gate of the "rich man". (Isn't it interesting that the rich has no name and the poor have the honor of one?). The rich man ignores Lazarus, who dies and goes to heaven. Soon, the rich man himself dies, and finds himself in Hades, begging to have his thirst quenched. Alas,  a great chasm (GAP) has been fixed and there is no crossing. When the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to his brothers as warning, Abraham reminds him that they have Moses (The Law) and the prophets. When the rich man says that they would believe someone who is from the dead. Jesus ends the parable with one of his best punchlines: "neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead..." 

When we reflect on this parable we must first remember the mission of Jesus - he proclaimed the Kingdom of God at hand!  So, while this may be a moral parable to remind us of our everlasting destiny, it is really more concerned with us here and now. Today. 

We must first recognize that we ourselves are separated by a GAP.

Our ambitions, greed, and ultimately our fear, keep us from connecting with the poor and downtrodden.
In our western free market culture we can do a great job in keeping the GAP really BIG! 

When I reflected on the parable I was reminded of an overarching irony in the name  "The GAP".  

It was just six years ago when the newspapers were full of stories about the giant clothing chain's use of child labor in sweatshops in India. The GAP responded by stating they were unaware of the problem and would deal with it. 

If you go to their web site you will find all kinds of links to their code of conduct, global sensitivity, environmental friendliness etc.

Look at some other sites and you will find that it still keeps happening
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yafZp8VTbc

The tragedy of the Bangladesh garment fires this summer has brought the problem to our consciousness again- different corporate giants, same GAP.
But here's the problem- we are all standing on the other side from Lazarus.
Who is it that wants the newest style at lowest possible price? As long as we continue to feed our own selfish materialism, we'll continue to have sweatshops and tragedy.

But that's not the only GAP in our life, especially for us as Catholic educators in Catholic schools.

Bridging the GAP
When we can conveniently throw some money into charity, or bring in a bunch of cans of food for the Thanksgiving school liturgy, without any real connection to the poor, then we are not hearing our Church's teaching on social justice.

We are called to solidarity. That means we need to teach our children, and ourselves, that Lazarus is at our doorstep. Lazarus is in our community. Without being in relationship with the downtrodden, there is no chance for social justice.
For this week: Think of ways how you and your students can connect with those who have less than us. When you work on your next charity drive, ask questions about why the poverty exists, and what small steps can you as an individual or as group do.

And always pray- with your heart, mind, soul... and hands.
Let's begin to bridge
The GAP.