From The Bishop

Mother Teresa was officially canonized only three weeks ago, on Sunday, September 4 by Pope Francis. St. Teresa of Calcutta was a woman who dedicated her life to caring for the “poorest of the poor”. She once said that “the most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” This truth is presented to us most clearly in the Gospel of the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus presents the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. We are told that Lazarus lived by the rich man’s gate; he had no home, no food, and his body was covered with sores. He was invisible to the rich man and all who passed by the gate each day. Despite his many physical privations, how could he not also feel the profound pain of being ignored and unloved by all those around him? This Gospel reminds us why Mother Teresa is a saint. She went into the streets of Calcutta and not only fed the hungry and clothed the naked, but she also loved them and lifted them out of their loneliness and despair. In the First Reading, the Prophet Amos chastises the people for the same attitude that we find in the rich man of the Gospel. These people were blind to the needs of the poor because they were self-absorbed. Their indifference would lead to their own destruction. The Readings remind us that we should all have a preferential option for the poor. This means that those who are poor and vulnerable deserve the preferential concern of us all. This is what God asks of us and, as the Gospel reminds us, it is also the measure of our salvation. St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.