Life is Messy

This weekend all of the Boy Scouts in the Kansas City area got together to have a campout celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts. It was wet and muddy and I had Mass in the middle of it. It was the kind of campout that brings out the true scouts amongst the mere wimps. You see, scouts aren’t afraid to get dirty. Any normal person would be happy to sleep inside on a nice soft bed and wake up to TV and a microwave for breakfast. Scouts are not such people. We like it hard. The harder the better. Scouts like a challenge because it brings out the best in us.

Our Gospel reading today speaks of a man who was afraid to get dirty. He sat around in purple garments eating off fine linen and probably never had a challenge in his life. Meanwhile a beggar named Lazarus was literally right at his door. To the rich man Lazarus was dirty and inconvenient.

Do we sometimes miss Lazarus right at our door because we don’t want to “get dirty?” Are we too stuck in our “comfort zone” to accept the challenge to go out of our way to help someone? Today’s Gospel is a warning to us. Let us listen to Moses and the prophets. Let’s not be afraid of the challenge of loving our brothers and sisters in need, and let’s not be afraid to get a little dirty if that’s what it takes.