Stranger Helping Stranger

~~~Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time~~~

~~~ Deuteronomy 30:10-14 ~~~ 

~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Colossians 1:15-20 ~~~ Luke 10:25-37 ~~~

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

If only we would trust this psalm refrain to be true.

Moses gives us some helpful insight.

He assures us that what we are searching for is very near.

In fact so very near that it is a part of our essence.

It is within our soul even if it is lying dormant.

 ...something very near to you,

already in your mouths and in your hearts;

you have only to carry it out.

The Spirit and Life of the Lord

are waiting to be drawn out for our immediate use.

The Samaritan traveler knew how and when

 to act on what was placed upon his heart.

He stopped to render aid to a complete stranger.

Would you consider such a person your neighbor?

Would you find some excuse

 to move on by the wounded person?

This stranger did more than call for someone 

else to come care for the wounded stranger.

This is a beautiful example of one stranger

 stopping to help another stranger.

Perhaps we are comfortable stopping to help a friend,

but helping a stranger is something different.

We all have neighbors who are our friends 

and neighbors who are strangers.

Sometimes it takes some form of disaster 

before we are moved to render aid to our neighbors 

who are also strangers.

Both the priest, and the Levite found ways to avoid the stranger.

They made up their own excuse to not access what 

should have already been in their heart. 

But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him

was moved with compassion at the sight. 

How can we love our neighbor as ourselves

if we ignore those in need...

if we avoid those who are hurting...

if we cross over to the other side of the road?

Ask yourself,

Who is my neighbor?

You know the answer.

It is already on your lips and in your heart.

The next step is to make

 your actions reflect God's mercy.

Who is the next neighbor you will help?

Blessed to act with mercy and compassion.

Our neighbor is no longer a stranger.

~~~Peace ~~~

Who is My Neighbor?

~~~Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary ~~~ 

 

~~~ Jonah 1:1–2:1-2, 11 ~~~ Jonah 2:3, 4, 5, 8 ~~~ Luke 10:25-37 ~~~

 

Who do you consider to be your neighbor?

 

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?

 

The lawyer could repeat the laws very well.

He knew how important it was to keep the commandments,

but Jesus goes deeper into the meaning.

He uses three well known characters of the that time.

 

He presents the scene for this attorney...

A crime has been committed.

A man has been brutally beaten and robbed by some local thugs.

 

Three different individuals see this badly injured man

on the side of the road...

a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.

 

 

The priest could not touch this bleeding man

because it would result in his being made unclean.

Blood was unclean thus the priest would not be allowed into the temple.

 

All priests are Levites but not all Levites are priests.

 

The Levite who comes to pass this victim is not a priest.

The other Levites assisted the priests, similar to what a deacon might today.

They prepared the offerings and cared for matters of the sanctuary.

To a lesser degree the Levites were supported by the temple

 worshippers as were the priests.

This Levite did not consider it his responsibility

to take care of this stranger.

 

This is a trap we can easily fall into today.

We are witness to people every day who are less desirable than we like.

We see with our eyes but in our heart we do not feel responsible.

 

Both the priest and the Levite were caught up

in letting the strict interpretation of the law

take precedence over caring for this injured person.

They were unable to see him as their neighbor.

 

They saw him only with their eyes and not with their heart.

They did not allow themselves to feel compassion for him.

They could not begin to consider him as their neighbor.

 

Finally Jesus uses a Samaritan to drive home the point of his story.

Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews in that time period.

This does get the attention of the young lawyer.

The Samaritans, in the eyes of a Jew, were lesser human beings.

They were considered to be like 'dogs'.

 

Jesus is always drawing us to something bigger...

He paints the picture of the Samaritan as acting with kindness

 and compassion toward this injured stranger.

It is the Samaritan who is showing how to love beyond.

 

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

 

What frightens you when you begin to define

 who your neighbor really is...?

 

How can we break our stereotypical view of our neighbor?

It is more about who we chose to love as our neighbor

 than about how to love our neighbor.

Blessings in stepping out of the shadow of stereotyping.

I can learn to love better.

Who is the Good Samaritan?

~ Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~

 

~~Deuteronomy 30:10-14~~Psalm 69 or 19~~Colossians 1:15-20~~Luke 10:25-37~~

 

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

 

The 'words' God gave to Moses we know as the Ten Commandments.

Ten rules to guide you in the way of God.

 

Moses himself describes the law of the Lord...

For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.

It is normal for us to see that God does have laws.

If we look at nature we see many examples of the these laws.

The laws of God make sense.

Already within our hearts is a sense of a higher power.

A higher power that deserves our love, honor and praise.

Moses also says to the people referring to the laws...

 '...it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.'

 

If what you have in your hearts is not supported by your actions

 then you are not being true to your heart.

 

In the Gospel today Jesus is questioned by a scholar of the law.

This scholar is asking if the old law are still to be obeyed.

Jesus never had the intention of abolishing

the laws given to Moses.

As a scholar of the law this person knew

the laws given to Moses.

 

Loving God with your whole heart, being, strength, and mind...

this is not mysterious...

this is already in your hearts.

Just as Moses was preaching.

It is the next part that causes us the greatest difficulties.

 

'...and your neighbor as yourself.”

 

This causes us problems because we are left to determine

who our neighbors are.

Most of the time we chose the easy most comfortable

 definition of our neighbors.

Our neighbors...

who are they?

The family next door, our friends,

 the people in our book club or bible study,

those who go to the same church;

these people are our neighbors.

But are these our only neighbors?

Jesus goes on with the example of the Good Samaritan.

Here we see the definition of neighbor greatly expanded.

 

It seems that our definition of neighbor is very controlled;

we set our own boundaries.

We want to be comfortable with our neighbors.

 

The definition of neighbor that Jesus presents is far from ours.

The Good Samaritan goes above and beyond what most of us would

consider doing for a friend much less a neighbor.

 

The Good Samaritan is an example for all of us to reach toward.

 

We are challenged to view our neighbor with compassion.

We are challenged to go out of our comfort zone to help our neighbor.

 

To me the person that comes closest to the Good Samaritan

would be Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She enlarged her circle to include all kinds of people as her neighbors.

She said...

"Intense love does not measure, it just gives."
 

It seems that loving our neighbor as ourselves requires us to consistently

reevaluate if someone meets the guideline to be our neighbor.

Loving our neighbor as ourselves is not something carved in stone

rather it is in the folds of our heart.