Mind The Gap

30 years ago our oldest daughter was in university, studying at the University of Nantes, in France.  Her younger sister was back home, here, in High School.  At March break we arranged for them to meet in England to spend about 10 days together.  They met at the airport in London, and from there, made their way into the city where they spent some time seeing the sights.  Their available mode of transportation was the train.  In an effort to avoid accidents & lawsuits, the City of London’s transportation department had a message broadcast at every station in the city every time the train’s doors opened.  Perhaps you’ve heard of it.  Even now, when those doors open, the message broadcast so everyone can hear, is ‘mind the gap.’  ®  ..the gap between the platform & the train.  And that, is the message being broadcast to us throughout the Church today.  “Mind the gap.”

In today’s 1^st reading we heard about the prophet Amos who prophesied to the wealthy of Israel and Judah.  They’d become so self absorbed & self indulgent that they failed to recognize the very real threat to their future  posed by the Assyrians.  The prophet Amos even told them they would be the first to be taken into exile…  but they paid no attention to the gap between themselves and everyone else,  the lesson being that when we allow ourselves to become mindless about others & about God, we can find ourselves exiled from the life God gave us.

In the 2nd reading (1 Tim.6: 11-16) the writer reminds the early Christians who would receive his letter that they should “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” and to “keep the commandment,” that is, the Christian way of life; to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness”  ..  to think of God & to think of others as their future unfolds.  “Mind the gap.”  “Mind those chasms in our midst.”  . . Like this:

 A large national company becomes aware that a group of its employees are being required to work without pay for a portion of every shift they put in…. but  the company chooses to ignore the matter in favour of preserving its massive profits…   They know they should ‘mind the gap’   but they don’t.  Well, a day of reckoning did come.  But wouldn’t the company have been better to exercise good stewardship by taking the initiative to address the matter..  & wouldn’t they have gained more respect & loyalty by doing that?

We do see that happen sometimes.  You may remember the ‘9-11’ terrorist attack 24 years ago on Sept.11th.  In its wake there was a colliding of many worlds, with many, many ripple effects.  In recognition of that terrible tragedy, & of the unprecedented impact on the airline industry that necessitated layoffs for so many employees, the CEO of Delta Airlines chose to forego his own salary for the balance of that fiscal year.  In his own way, he was recognizing ‘the gap,’  the devastation in the worlds right next to him, and acting on it as best he could.  He was exercising his own sense of  ‘otherness.’  That was an act of faith in a ‘gap,’ a place where we might not expect to find that.   “Mind the gap.”

In the gospel proclaimed throughout the Church today we hear the Parable of Dives & Lazarus. It confronts us with an evocative image because it begins in this world and winds up in the next.  Jesus wants us to recognize something here, & it’s something which our future depends on.  The poor beggar’s name, Lazarus, is a Latinized form of the Hebrew ‘Eleazar’ which means “God is my help” and this is balanced with a name for the other main character, ‘Dives,’ which is Latin for “rich.”

In the Parable, Father Abraham speaks for God, Dives represents those who allow themselves to become mindless of the gap between themselves and those around them in need, Lazarus represents those being victimized as a result of their mindlessness, and the five brothers are, well, they are us, those who are hearing this parable, those who are receiving this prophetic word.   There is a gap between the two  that Lazarus cannot help but recognize  while the other one, Dives, simply chooses not to see or take account of.

On the one hand, we are shown the crumbs below the table that Lazarus longed for; on the other, we see the sumptuous but unreachable feast laid out above, restricted to Dives alone.  During his lifetime this rich man lived totally for himself; paid no heed to the Jewish law which specified how the poor were to be treated.  So for the very first time, when he dies, the rich man tries to bridge the gap between himself & the poor & needy  but now, it is too late to do anything about it; he sees the gap in front of him only after death, after he has lived out his luxurious isolation.  . .

In the parable, Jesus is reminding us, in this life, to ‘mind the gap;’ to be sensitive to those in need and to remain responsible in our faith.  Because, when we do ‘mind the gap,’ life becomes better for all of us,  and that is is part of God’s purpose & plan.

Some years ago I attended the American Council of Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Reconciliation  in Denver, Colorado.  The 2nd presenter at the conference was Sr. Marie Chin & Sr. Marie gave one of the best talks I think I’ve ever heard.  She spoke about the maturing of our spirituality.. how spirituality is not & cannot be all `sweetness & light;’ that maturing faith brings with it the realization that spirituality becomes an interweaving of shades of darkness & light where things aren’t always clear.  Experience is lived through blessing & curse, challenge & joy, suffering & exaltation.  And that it’s through this process of interweaving that we come to know God’s unconditional love AND the significance of our interconnections, our `webbed relationships’ with one another.

Reconciliation comes ultimately, by standing in those chasms, those gaps in life, & struggling through by listening; listening IN BETWEEN our experiences of doubt & faith, IN BETWEEN our intentions & our actions, IN BETWEEN our hurts & our hopes.. listening INTO those ‘gaps’  for oneself, and TO & FOR others…  Listening for the guiding presence of the God who loves us & wants to bring us to Himself.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) struggled with this very issue of ‘the gap’ within herself for many years.  For 17 years she lived in Calcutta as a teacher and principal of a high school for girls.  She was safe and protected behind the convent walls.  But slowly, she came to realize that God was calling her beyond those walls that protected life  to go out into the streets of the city and help the poor in whatever way she could.    . . .  And  she  did.  ®

So very often, the life of faith cannot be contained by the boxes we try to live in.  God’s call keeps coming to his people.. to you and to me.  The gospel today calls us to nurture our sense of otherness,  to ‘mind the gaps’ we are met with …  & to trust  that  we  will  meet  God  there .. in those gaps   between  us  and  them.    Thanks be to God.   Amen.