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Dear Parish Faithful,
For if he did not give alms to this man who was continually prostrate at his gate, lying before his eyes, whom he had to see every day once or twice or many times as he went in and out ... if, (I say) he did not give alms to this man, who lay in such grievous suffering, and lived in such destitution, or rather for his whole life was troubled by chronic illness of the most serious kind, whom of those he encountered would he ever have been moved to pity?
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on the Rich Man and Lazarus
The Lazarus Basket - For many years now this basket, meant for collecting charity donations, has been aligned with the reading of the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. So, we are very familiar with this tradition at this point in time. For those who are new to the parish, here is the meaning and purpose of this basket which will be next to the Cross for three consecutive Sundays, beginning this coming Sunday:
The collection basket, named after the Lazarus of the parable, is meant to "activate" the parable for us here and now. The rich man passed by poor Lazarus, thereby ignoring his needs. As we venerate the Cross of the Lord following the Liturgy, we represent the rich man who can either respond to Lazarus by placing a donation in the basket; or who can ignore Lazarus by passing by the basket without leaving anything in it (thus acting as the rich man did in the parable). Hopefully, we make that decision with the parable still very much alive in our minds and hearts having just heard it in the Liturgy.
I realize that we just had a basket for the recent seminary appeal. And we are in the process of making our Stewardship appeal for 2024. However, if everyone responds on some level of giving, we can make a substantial collection that will be distributed during both Thanksgiving and Nativity locally for those in need in our parish neighborhood. The parish is growing, so more people than ever are approaching the Cross and thus, the Lazarus basket. If we can give just a bit more, it will prove to be a good response to the Gospel.
To repeat: the Lazarus basket will be by the Cross for three consecutive Sundays, thus giving the entire parish an opportunity to contribute.
Fr. Steven
