A Recent Sermon: 'Saving the Poor' Starts with Their Names

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Today in Heart of the Nation's Catholic Mass, the celebrant gave a sermon on 'the story of Lazarus (not Jesus' friend's brother, but the character in one of His parables).' The parable goes: there was a rich man living the high life, and there was a beggar named Lazarus whom the rich man totally ignored. They both died, and Lazarus went to paradise (Heaven) to live with Father Abraham while the rich man went into lonely suffering (Hell). The rich man calls out to Abraham to ask him to send what small comfort he might, and Abraham answers, 'No. You had your chance, same as all your currently-living relatives do. If they won't choose right with all the help they've been given before (Moses, the prophets, etc.), they won't even change their ways if someone came back from the dead to try to convince them!' ... The celebrant followed that up with a sermon about 'our duty to the poor'---it's not necessarily 'donations we need to give,' but rather it's 'validation'---starting with their names (just like Jesus named Lazarus in His parable).