A sociologist named, Tom Corley, studied the lifestyle of the rich and the poor. His study showed a lot of differences between the two:

• The rich love to read, not the poor.
• The poor love reality TV, not the rich
• The poor love junk food, not the rich
• The rich exercise at least 4 times a week, not the poor
• The rich invest money first, then spend the remaining. The poor spend first and save whatever is left.

Obviously, worlds apart and contrasting lives. When this happens, apathy and indifference become a reality.

This is what Jesus warns of in the Gospel. The rich man did not go to hell because he was bad; nor because he stole or was corrupt. Nothing was said about his taking advantage of the poor. He went to hell because he did not care. He was indifferent to the plight of the poor.

Since no one is exempted from Apathy and Indifference, three things we remember:

1. The Opposite of Love is not Hatred, it is Apathy (Rollo May). Jesus would always say love one another. Hence, when one doesn’t care, he doesn’t love. No wonder the question in the story of Jesus about the last day, “When did we see you hungry and did not feed you?”
2. All it needs for evil to prevail is for good people to keep quiet. (Albert Einstein). While there is so much evil in the world, take comfort, there is still much, much more good people in the world. The problem though is that most choose to remain quiet. If we want a better world, we will have to get out of our comfort zones and make a difference in life.
3. What are the blessings that we have for? The Lord has blessed us with time, talent and treasure, since we came to this world with nothing. Come to think of it, we are leaving the world with nothing. So why did he bless us with time, talent and treasure? These blessings are meant not only for our own use but for us to bless others. And talk about blessing others, we remember that to whom much is given, much will be required.

That is why in this Mass we remember the lyrics of a Tagalog song, “Walang sino man ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang.”  We must remember that all our lives are intertwined. Hence Apathy and Indifference have no place in this life, only in the netherworld.