960313.01
> From: Tom Skrovanek <tas@hal-pc.org>
> Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 21:56:11 -0600
> To: "Ask Fr. Mateo" <cinaskf@catinfo.cts.com>
> Subject: Purgatory
>
> Fr. Mateo,
>
> I have been reading Catholic apologetic literature on the
> subject of Purgatory, but I am still having trouble
> interpreting Luke 16:19-31. How can the rich man look up
> from hell and see the poor man at Abraham's bosom. I
> thought that souls in hell could not communicate with souls
> in Heaven, and how could Lazarus bring water to the rich man
> in Hell.
>
> Thank you, and God bless you.
>
> Tom Skrovanek
Dear Tom,
Our Lord's story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31) is
a parable. Gospel parables are stories which carry a lesson or
moral. Each parable has only one lesson, derived from one single
point of comparison. Once the central point of the parable has
been identified, the rest of the details in the story are seen to
be trimmings to give the narrative interest and color, but not to
convey the parable's message. Thus Luke 16:19-31 tells us
nothing about purgatory or heaven or hell. What then does this
parable say to us? Here is Father Francis Filas' explanation in
his book, "The Parables of Jesus" (Macmillan, 1959), pp. 79-82:
" There was once a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple
and fine linen, and daily lived in feasting and splendor. And
a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered
with sores, an longing to be fed with the scraps dropped from
the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
By and by, however, the beggar died, and was conveyed away
by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died
and was buried; and in the abode of the dead he raised his
eyes, while in the midst of torment, and saw Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom. Then shrieking out he cried,
`Father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip the
tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am
tortured in this flame!' `Child,' replied Abraham, `remember
that thou didst receive thy good things in thy lifetime, just
as Lazarus received evils; so now he is consoled here, while
thou art in anguish. And besides all this, there is immovably
fixed between us and you a vast abyss, so that those who wish
to pass from us to you may not be able, and that none may
cross over from you to us.'
`Then I implore thee, Father,' said he, `to send him to my
father's house-for I have five brothers-to give them solemn
warning, so that they too may not come into this place of
torment.' `They have Moses and the Prophets.' replied Abraham;
`let them listen to them.' `Ah, no, Father Abraham!' was his
answer; `but if some one goes to them form the dead they will
repent,' `If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets'
came the reply, `neither would they believe were one to rise
from the dead.'"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
" Purple garments and fine linen were restricted to the
wealthy. The mention of them in the parable indicates the
opulence which was manifestly exhibited in the sinful,
luxurious banquets. Lazarus was so poor and so helpless that
even the dogs licked his ulcerous sores. For a Jewish
listener this gave a concrete picture of his utter misery.
When Jesus says that the angels carried the beggar into
Abraham's bosom, He does not intend to teach exact details of
the afterlife. It is evident that He describes Heaven in
terms which His listeners would understand: a happiness of
reclining with Abraham on his bosom or in his lap. The rich
man is described in torment after his death. Here we must
particularly caution against a pernicious misunderstanding.
The rich man cries out with remorse and sorrow and some
evident good will in trying to help at least his brothers on
earth from reaching the abyss of punishment to which he has
been assigned. In this respect such is not a picture of hell.
No soul in hell, no wicked angel, could ever begin to
entertain sentiments such as these. The damned hate God
implacably, and they hate all that is good with the same fixed
hate. Since their willis set in evil by their own
unchangeable decision, any comparison between them and the
rich man is, in this aspect of the parable, completely out of
place.
The first lesson of the parable is evidently the need to live
properly in this life as a prelude to happiness in the next.
The second lesson is that the means God gives us on earth to
save our souls are truly sufficient. We do not need "some one
from the dead" to incite us to generosity or to instruct us to
truth. In the words Jesus put into Abraham's mouth, if the
rich man's five brothers will not listen to Moses and the
prophets (that is, the two great divisions of the Jewish
scriptures, the Law and the Prophets), then they will not have
enough good will to obey the word of someone come from the
afterlife.
It would be a misinterpretation of the parable to use it as
an invective against riches as such. Equally wrong would be
the claim that poverty as such is holy and good. Riches and
poverty are neither good nor bad of themselves. Their
acceptance in accordance with God's law, and God's will is
what is important. This is the third lesson, equivalently,
that worldly prominence as such does not save one's soul. The
fourth and perhaps even most prominent lesson is the fact that
the rich man could have saved his soul by using superfluous
wealth in giving alms to Lazarus.
Verse 23 carries the sentence that the rich man "in hell
raised his eyes" to Abraham. In Jesus' time Jewish belief
concerning the nature of the afterlife was vague. Hell (Hades
in Greek, Sheol in Hebrew), was merely the abode of the dead.
It comprised two regions: Gehenna, for the wicked, and
Paradise, or place of rest for the just. Between them was an
impassable abyss. The concept, therefore, was still
incomplete, and as such it was accommodated and tolerated by
Jesus as the backdrop of the parable.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo
- Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit -
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