Monsignor Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel of this Sunday, September 21, 2025, entitled:  “A table for all.”

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Amos 6:1, 4-7: “You who live a dissolute life will go into exile.”

Psalm 145: “Let us praise the Lord, who comes to save us”

1 Timothy 6:11-16: “Fulfill all that is commanded until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Luke 16:19-31: “In your lifetime, you received good things, but Lazarus received evil things. Now he is comforted, but you are in torment.”

I would like to believe that the gap between wealth and poverty is narrowing, but reality hits home when the real, unadulterated figures of pain, hunger, illness, isolation, and the lack of access to the basic conditions of a dignified life are presented. The faces of our brothers and sisters who struggle and die for a better quality of life scream at us that the Gospel has not come true and that there are many “Lazaruses” lying at the doors of hospitals or workplaces, yearning for a few crumbs to sustain them.

The Gospel does not allow us to remain indifferent when we contemplate so many of our brothers and sisters who live in extreme poverty. They are excluded from society, not taken into account except only at election time or when political groups need support. They are outside of society. Likewise, they are found not only in our peripheries but in every part of the world. The table of the wealthy, the self-sufficient, grows larger every day, with more and more sophisticated dishes, but with fewer diners, and the vast number of Lazaruses thrown at the door of the new system grows ever larger. The Bishops in Aparecida recognize that this great abyss that is growing between the poor and the rich is no longer simply a phenomenon of exploitation and oppression, but something new: social exclusion. With it, belonging to the society in which one lives is affected, for one is no longer at the bottom, on the periphery, or powerless, but on the outside. The excluded are not only “exploited” but “surplus and disposable“.

Society, driven by a tendency that privileges profit and encourages competition, follows a dynamic of concentrating power and wealth in the hands of a few, not only physical and monetary resources, but above all information, power, and human resources. This results in the exclusion of all those insufficiently trained and informed, increasing the inequalities that sadly mark our continent and keep countless people in poverty. Poverty today is a poverty of knowledge, of the right to education, of healthcare opportunities, and of access to new technologies. Poverty today is exclusion, neglect, and marginalization.

While it is true that wealth often appears in the Bible linked to a righteous life, the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus can never be considered a fatalistic acceptance of a disorder where the rich will always be richer and the poor will always be poorer. It is not an alienating consolation, nor the opium that lulls and soothes the poor. Reading it this way is a caricature of the Gospel. The Word is a denunciation of every unjust order and the revelation of the deep causes of injustice. And the true causes lie in the very conception of man and of “his brothers.” If one does not think of brothers, one cannot share the table. Only a shared table is a sign of brotherhood. It is not about giving crumbs or silencing one’s conscience by giving away scraps. It is not about overturning the current order, only so that the poor may appear as new “bosses” who oppress other poor people, their brothers. Likewise, it is about creating a new order, a new system, where we are all brothers.

Therefore, in the face of this inhumane globalization, we feel a strong call to promote a different kind of globalization, one marked by solidarity, justice, and respect for human rights, to give rise to hope and love.

The Gospel presents us with a dynamic of transformation and change, in which excuses for continuing in a world of injustice are of no use. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not believe, even if someone rises from the dead.” There are those who close their eyes and draw curtains to block out reality. Or they hide behind the excuse that they cannot change the global system. But global transformation comes through the small actions each of us takes. If we do not change our hearts, the world will never be changed.

Many countries have set goals for achieving “Zero Hunger,” combating the drug problem, increasing literacy, and eliminating poverty. To achieve these goals and thus reduce inequality between those who have everything and those who lack basic goods such as education, health care, and housing, transparency and honesty in public administration are essential. In the face of any form of corruption, they enhance the credibility of authorities among citizens and are crucial for just development. Only with a heart of brothers and sisters can we achieve a table for all, a table of brotherhood. As is Jesus’ dream, as is God’s proposal: a table for all brothers and sisters.

Our God, who created a wonderful world and makes your sun rise upon all people, grant us a generous heart to share the table, and help us so that we may not falter in the struggle to build your Kingdom. Amen.