By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis invited Christians to “return to the taste of bread to remember that while this earthly existence of ours is being consumed, the Eucharist anticipates the promise of resurrection and guides us towards the new life that conquers death.”

Speaking during the homily at Holy Mass to conclude the 27th National Eucharistic Congress in the southern Italian city of Matera on Sunday, the Pope reflected on the Gospel of Luke which tells of the rich man and the poor Lazarus who hoped, in vain, to be fed by the crumbs falling from the former’s table. (Lk 16, 19-31).

“The Gospel we have just heard tells us that bread is not always shared on the table of the world; it does not always emanate the fragrance of communion; it is not always broken in justice,” he said.

Inviting the faithful to reflect on the dramatic scene described by Jesus in this parable that presents us on the one hand with “a rich man dressed in purple garments and fine linen, flaunting his opulence and feasting lavishly,” and on the other with “a poor man, covered in sores, who lies at the door hoping to eat the crumbs that fall from that table,” the Pope said that faced with this contradiction, we must ask ourselves what the Sacrament of the Eucharist, “source and summit of a Christian’s life” asks of us?

The primacy of God

First of all, he explained, the Eucharist reminds us of the primacy of God. The rich man in the parable is not open to a relationship with God: “he thinks only of his own well-being, of satisfying his needs, of enjoying life. He pleases himself and worships worldly wealth, he is closed in his own little world. Self-satisfied, drunk with money, dazed by vanity, there is no place in his life for God because he worships only himself.”

It is no coincidence, he continued, that we do not say his name: we call him ‘rich’ because his identity stems from the goods he possesses.

The Pope said this is a sad reality that we continue to see today “when we confuse what we are with what we have. When we judge people by their wealth, the titles they display, the roles they hold, or the lables on the clothes they wear.”

On the contrary, Pope Francis continued, the poor man has a name: Lazarus, which means ‘God will help’.

“Despite his condition of poverty and marginalisation, his dignity is intact because he lives in relationship with God. There is something of God in his very name, and God is the unshakeable hope of his life,” he said.

Inviting the faithful to put Him at the centre, the Pope said that “if we worship ourselves, we die in the asphyxiation of our small selves; if we worship the riches of this world, they take possession of us and make us slaves; if we worship the god of appearances and inebriate ourselves in wastefulness, sooner or later life will present us with the bill.”