In both the first reading and the gospel we hear of rich men, but in both cases their sin is not their wealth but their lack of awareness. In the Amos reading the “complacent . . . . are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph,” that is, they don’t care about the rest of Israel, their people.

“Charity begins at home,” the saying goes. That’s also where it ends, for folks who draw the circle of responsibility with a short radius. Some of us terminate our locus of concern at the nuclear family unit, a definition of belonging that’s only been around since the early 20th century.

“There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep.

LAZARUS is a name Christians remember. He is featured in several gospel stories, including the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Interestingly in that story, we never learn the selfish rich man’s name.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.