My friend, Jim Manney, has written on the implications of the Lazarus and Dives story and, rather than stealing from him, I’ve decided to quote him:
“In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man doesn’t directly oppress the poor man Lazarus who begs at his gates, but the rich man is condemned anyway. His sin was ignoring the man’s needs. Here is St. Basil, one of the early church fathers, preaching on the parable of the rich fool, who builds bigger barns when he comes into unexpected wealth.
The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage-chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear moldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need.
Yes, today we live in an age of Social Security, Section 8 housing, and homeless shelters. We’re taxed to support the poor. Our capitalist economy spreads prosperity widely while it makes some people very rich. Things are different now. Or are they? Our rich world is full of single mothers and old people struggling to make ends meet, addicts and mentally ill people with no place to go, physically disabled people confined to their homes, crack babies, and kids in unstable foster care. They might have food to eat and a roof over their heads in our rich country, but few care about them. That’s why the rich man was condemned; he ignored the poor man at his gates.”
-- Jim Manney: God Finds Us: An Experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, pp. 86-87 [Loyola Press, 2013]