Bible Study - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The readings for next weekend—the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time—can be found here. Here’s installment 1 of the Living Catholic Bible Study:
Bible Study: The Rich Man, Lazarus, and the Great Socialist Misread
Every third year, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) rolls around, and every year the same thing happens: throughout the land at suburban parishes everywhere, leftists with “Eat the Rich” T-shirts and a copies of Das Kapital in one hand and a felt banner in the other, wait in joyful anticipation for homilies reinforcing their disdain for wealth and wealthy people. They look at Amos railing against ivory couches and Jesus telling the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, and—without hesitation—he shouts, “See? God loves socialism!”
Let’s set the record straight: Scripture and the Church do not condemn wealth. It condemns indifference, complacency, and moral bankruptcy. You can be a saint with money, and you can be damned in poverty. What matters is whether your resources serve communion with God and neighbor—or whether they serve only yourself.
Amos: Woe to the Complacent, Not the Capitalists
Amos 6 doesn’t read like a socialist manifesto; it reads like a warning label for Netflix binges and champagne brunches. “Woe to the complacent in Zion” (Amos 6:1). The problem isn’t private property—it’s being anesthetized by comfort while your nation collapses.
Leo XIII understood this well in Rerum Novarum:
“The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners” (§46).
You read that right: the Church says ownership is good. The problem isn’t having wealth; it’s failing to use it well.
Psalm 146: God as the Gold Standard
The Psalm lays down the template: God “secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry… protects the stranger, sustains the orphan and the widow” (Ps 146:7–9).
So if you really want to imitate God, you don’t burn down grocery stores and scream “eat the rich.” You feed the hungry. You start businesses that employ fathers, feed families, and allow donations to flow to parishes and charities. That’s not socialism—that’s stewardship.
The Catechism says it plainly:
“In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself” (CCC 2404).
Notice: “legitimately owns.” Translation: no Bernie Madoff schemes allowed.
1 Timothy: The Man of God and Virtuous Wealth
St. Paul warns against greed but not against enterprise. “Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness” (1 Tim 6:11). Translation: use wealth as a training ground for virtue, not a trampoline for ego.
John Paul II said it even more directly in Centesimus Annus:
“The modern business economy has positive aspects. It is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs” (§34).
You almost want to whisper that to the socialist pew-sitter clutching his copy of The Communist Manifesto: “The Pope literally said markets are good. Take it up with him.”
Luke 16: The Chasm of Indifference
Enter Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The Rich Man is not condemned because he enjoyed steak dinners. He is condemned because Lazarus was starving at his gate and he couldn’t be bothered. The chasm in eternity is simply the final result of the chasm he built on earth: indifference.
Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est:
“Love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential to her [the Church] as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (§22).
Notice again: this isn’t “abolish private property and redistribute.” It’s “don’t ignore Lazarus.” You can feed him with the surplus of your Domino’s Pizza fortune just fine.
Bernie Madoff vs. Tom Monaghan: The Tale of Two Fortunes
Here’s the contrast that makes it real:
Bernie Madoff: Built “wealth” through fraud and exploitation. A parasite in a suit. His fortune was a Ponzi scheme that robbed widows of their pensions. That’s not capitalism; that’s theft in a designer tie.
Tom Monaghan (founder of Domino’s Pizza): Built an empire with creativity and risk-taking. Then he turned that wealth toward Catholic universities, pro-life causes, and evangelization. A man who literally turned pizza into piety.
John Paul II in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis had Madoff in mind when he warned about “structures of sin” rooted in “the all-consuming desire for profit” (§36). He had Monaghan in mind when he called for solidarity and virtuous enterprise.
Adam Smith Meets Catholic Social Teaching
Even Adam Smith saw it:
“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others” (Theory of Moral Sentiments, I.i.1).
Smith knew free markets only work if people cultivate sympathy, responsibility, and generosity. The Church would call this “virtue.”
So yes, wealth is good. Free markets are good. But they require men of moral sentiments—not men of socialist slogans.
Wealth Is a Gift, Indifference Is the Sin
The Felt Banner Brigade’s misreading of these readings is embarrassingly predictable: “Jesus hated rich people!” No—Jesus condemned selfishness. The Bible doesn’t call us to poverty envy; it calls us to virtuous stewardship.
Wealth like Bernie Madoff’s builds hells on earth. Wealth like Tom Monaghan’s builds schools, churches, and hope. That’s the choice: Madoff’s chasm or Monaghan’s communion.
So let’s stop pretending the Gospel is a Marxist pamphlet. The Catechism, the encyclicals, and even Adam Smith all agree:
Wealth is praiseworthy when used well, damnable when used selfishly.