Readings & Reflections: Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time & St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, October 5,2020

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Opening Prayer

“Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and whilst nursing minister to you. Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you and say: ‘Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.’ Lord, give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will ever find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers. O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you. Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience. And, O God, while you are Jesus, my patient, deign also to be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention, which is to love and serve you in the person of each of your sick. Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work, now and for evermore. Amen. (Daily prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

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October 5,2020 Toronto, Canada

Reading I
Galatians 1:6-12

Brothers and sisters:
I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking
the one who called you by the grace of Christ
for a different gospel (not that there is another).
But there are some who are disturbing you
and wish to pervert the Gospel of Christ.
But even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel
other than the one that we preached to you,
let that one be accursed!
As we have said before, and now I say again,
if anyone preaches to you a gospel
other than the one that you received,
let that one be accursed!

Am I now currying favor with human beings or God?
Or am I seeking to please people?
If I were still trying to please people,
I would not be a slave of Christ.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,
that the Gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 111:1b-2, 7-8, 9 and 10c
R (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
or:
R Alleluia.

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
or:
R Alleluia.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity.
R The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
or:
R Alleluia.

He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
His praise endures forever.
R The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
or:
R Alleluia.

Alleluia, alleluia. I give you a new commandment:/ love one another as I have loved you. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Luke 10:25-37

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?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,
“And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied,
“A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Love God and neighbor

Today’s gospel focuses on God’s command to love Him above all (with all your heart, your being, your strength, your mind), and one’s neighbor as thyself. He highlights that every believer should have- an unlimited commitment to help meet the needs of every man, a parent, a child, a sibling, an acquaintance or even one who has been considered an enemy and has grossly violated one’s trust.

Compassion is something our Lord wants to be deeply imbedded in our hearts as we relate with one another. Compassion is necessary to follow Christ and live according to His teachings.

Does this mean that God expects us to stop every time we see someone on the side of the road and help them fix a flat? Or give money and food to every homeless man we encounter in the streets of Manhattan?

Certainly not. But it means that the “let someone else handle it “or “I have given enough to the poor” attitude must be removed from our minds and hearts.

Through the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus somehow defined “who is my neighbor.” But in my heart the best and true story that defines “who is my neighbor” is God’s redemptive act of love for mankind when He sent Jesus to save us from total destruction.

Talk about stopping at the side of the road to help a distressed driver, feeding the poor and hungry or caring for the sick, they all pale to what the Father did for us. All these fall short of the love and compassion Jesus had in his heart for all men as He accepted death on the Cross so that we will be healed, saved and be made acceptable in God’s kingdom.

Just imagine our plight if Jesus was not willing to take that condescending step and in love reach down and lift us from the spiritual death which was upon all of us! If Jesus did not have compassion and kindness deeply imbedded in His heart we will still be gasping for air and in the middle of nowhere, flopping on the sand like a beached fish. Jesus was the only one who could do the perfect job for the Father and He did it with His whole heart, mind and soul.

In God’s divine plan He chose all of us to teach, to guide, to counsel, to aid, to help, to heal his flock but how have we received this commission? How often have we turned around and considered that such an act or ministry is not ours or such work is not within our own set of inclinations, preferred work and even God’s gifts to us?

Remember the words of Christ “whatsoever you do to the least of these, my brothers, you have done unto me.” To ignore God’s people especially those in need of compassion and love is to ignore Christ.

With today’s gospel Jesus exhorts all of us to embrace our neighbor just as He has embraced us. He does not want us not to ignore those who are heavily burdened emotionally, financially and spiritually and assume that someone else will take care of them. Rather His desire is for us to be kind, merciful and full of compassion at all times.

Remember God constantly bends down and helps us whenever we are in need. As disciples of Jesus we should be able to imitate and follow His example.

Direction

Do this and you shall live. Live a life or love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Prayer

Heavenly Father pour grace upon me so that I may be your living witness of mercy and kindness, love and compassion. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reflection 2 – Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? —Luke 10:36

When Fred Rogers died February 27, 2003, scores of newspapers carried the story as front-page news, and almost every headline included the word neighbor. As host of the long-running children’s television show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, he was well known to millions of children and their parents as a kind, gentle, warm person who genuinely believed “each person is special, deep inside, just the way they are.”

Mr. Rogers once told a journalist: “When we look at our neighbor with appreciative eyes, . . . with gratitude for who that person truly is, then I feel we are arm in arm with Christ Jesus, the advocate of eternal good.” Because Rogers recognized the value of each person, he believed in being a good neighbor to all.

When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He told the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-35). At the conclusion of this story, the Lord asked, “Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” The answer? “He who showed mercy on him” (vv.36-37).

Who in our “neighborhood” needs a kind word, an arm of friendship, or an act of encouragement today? Jesus calls us to show love and compassion to others as we love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.
— David C. McCasland

How many lives shall I touch today?
How many neighbors will pass my way?
I can bless so many and help so much
If I meet each one with a Christlike touch. —Jones

Your love for your neighbor is proof of your love for God (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 3 – A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. —Luke 10:33

As Francisco Venegas, a school custodian in Colorado, watched the children on the playground, he saw a 9-year-old girl fall off a bench for no apparent reason. Another time he noticed her face twisted in a strange expression. Sensing that something was wrong, Francisco reported what he had seen to the school office.

A few days later, the girl had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. The information that Francisco provided led doctors to perform a brain scan, and they found a tumor. Successful surgery and recovery followed.

Many people have called Francisco Venegas a “good samaritan,” a name drawn from a story Jesus told about three people who saw a man in need. The first two “passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:31-32). But the third, a Samaritan, showed compassion (vv.33-35).

Compassion cannot see someone in need without helping. It accepts the consequences of getting involved because it cannot bear to turn away. Compassion comes from a heart that is tender toward God and fellow travelers on the road of life.

Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan ends with a command for each of us: “Go and do likewise” (v.37). Jesus sees everyone through eyes of compassion, and He calls us to do the same.  — David C. McCasland

When you see someone in need,
Love demands a loving deed;
Don’t just say you love him true,
Prove it by the deeds you do. —Sper

Compassion is love in action (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 4 – You shall love your neighbor as yourself. —Romans 13:9

When a man learned that an elderly woman could no longer buy her medicine and pay her rent, he came to her rescue. He took her into his home and treated her as if she were his mother. He gave her a bedroom, prepared the food for her meals, bought her medicine, and transported her whenever she needed medical attention. He continued to care for her when she could no longer do much for herself. I was amazed when I learned that this good man was a zealous atheist!

The Jews were shocked by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, because He put him in a positive light. They despised the Samaritans the way I tend to look down on atheists.

A lawyer had tested Jesus by asking how he could inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law said. The man answered that he must love the Lord with all his heart and his neighbor as himself (Luke 10:25-27). He asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (v.29). In Jesus’ story, the Samaritan was the neighbor who showed kindness to the wounded man.

Jesus wanted this parable to challenge His listeners. The stories of the Good Samaritan and the good atheist remind us of this high standard of God’s Word: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9).
— Herbert Vander Lugt

To love my neighbor as myself
Is not an easy task,
But God will show His love through me
If only I will ask. —Sper

Needy people need our helping hand (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 5 – The best Samaritan

In the gospel the lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus did not give a direct answer. Instead he told a parable. In the story the Samaritan who stopped and helped the man who had fallen in with robbers proved himself to be the kind of neighbor Jesus had in mind, even though the Samaritan did not know the afflicted man and the afflicted man did not know him.

To his parable Jesus often gave an unexpected twist. The twist to this parable is the meaning which Jesus gave to the word “neighbor.” It is the fact that the hero is a Samaritan. Remember that the story was being told to the Jews who despised Samaritans. They saw them as traitors and heretics. Those who heard Jesus must have been shocked. They were dismayed that he proposed to them the least likely person as a hero.

Some of the early Fathers of the Church put still another twist on the story. They saw in the person we call the Good Samaritan an image of Jesus himself. In other words, they thought that the least likely person represents for us the most likely person to help. And help us Jesus did.

The human race was waylaid by sin. Sin had stripped us of our dignity as human beings. It had robbed us, taking from us the grace of God. It had attacked us so severely that we all were like a person who is half dead. Jesus lifted us up, not on a beast, but on his own shoulders and brought us to the Church that we be cared for until he returns in glory on the day of our resurrection.

But after Jesus brought us to the Church, he did not leave us to go on his way. He is with his Church all days even until the end of the world. Through the ministry of the Church in baptism Jesus heals the wounds of our sins, restores the life of grace, and gives us the dignity of the children of God. In confirmation Jesus strengthens the life of grace within us; he confirms our identity as children of God and heirs of heaven. Jesus comes to us in the Church through word and sacrament: the word of Sacred Scripture and the sacrament of his body and blood are our spiritual nourishment.

The word “neighbor” literally means someone who is near. Jesus proved himself to be more than a neighbor, more than someone who is near to us. He had made us part of his body, the Church. In him we continue in being; as second reading St. Paul teaches us, he is “Head of the body, the Church” (Col 1:18).

As we go through life, sin will continue to stalk us, waiting for an unguarded moment when it can attack us in our weakness. But we never be alone in our struggle. It is vital that we learn the lesson of today’s psalm: “Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live” (Ps 69:33). When we turn to the Lord we will realize that he is not too mysterious and remote for us. Jesus is not merely the Good Samaritan. He is the best. Are you ready to lay down your life for Jesus?

Reflection 6 – Go and do likewise

If God is all-loving and compassionate, then why is there so much suffering and evil in this world? Many agnostics refuse to believe in God because of this seemingly imponderable problem. If God is love then evil and suffering must be eliminated in all its forms. What is God’s answer to this human dilemma? Jesus’ parable about a highway robbery gives us a helpful hint. Jesus told this dramatic story in response to a devout Jew who wanted to understand how to apply God’s great commandment of love to his everyday life circumstances. In so many words this religious-minded Jew said: “I want to love God as best as I can and I want to love my neighbor as well. But how do I know that I am fulfilling my duty to love my neighbor as myself?”

Jesus must have smiled when he heard this man challenge him to explain one’s duty towards their neighbor. For the Jewish believer the law of love was plain and simple: “treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself.” The real issue for this believer was the correct definition of who is “my neighbor”.  He understood “neighbor” to mean one’s fellow Jew who belonged to the same covenant which God made with the people of Israel. Up to a certain point, Jesus agreed with this sincere expert but, at the same time, he challenged him to see that God’s view of neighbor went far beyond his narrow definition.

God’s love and mercy extends to all
Jesus told a parable to show how wide God’s love and mercy is towards every fellow human being. Jesus’ story of a brutal highway robbery was all too familiar to his audience. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho went through a narrow winding valley surrounded by steep rocky cliffs. Many wealthy Jews from Jerusalem had winter homes in Jerico. This narrow highway was dangerous and notorious for its robbers who could easily ambush their victim and escape into the hills. No one in his right mind would think of traveling through this dangerous highway alone. It was far safer to travel with others for protection and defense.

Our prejudice gets in the way of mercy
So why did the religious leaders refuse to give any help when they saw a half-dead victim lying by the roadside? Didn’t they recognize that this victim was their neighbor? And why did a Samaritan, an outsider who was despised by the Jews, treat this victim with special care at his own expense as he would care for his own family? Who was the real neighbor who showed brotherly compassion and mercy? Jesus makes the supposed villain, the despised Samaritan, the merciful one as an example for the status conscious Jews. Why didn’t the priest and Levite stop to help? The priest probably didn’t want to risk the possibility of ritual impurity. His piety got in the way of charity. The Levite approached close to the victim, but stopped short of actually helping him. Perhaps he feared that bandits were using a decoy to ambush him. The Levite put personal safety ahead of saving his neighbor.

God expects us to be merciful as he is merciful
What does Jesus’ story tell us about true love for one’s neighbor? First, we must be willing to help even if others brought trouble on themselves through their own fault or negligence. Second, our love and concern to help others in need must be practical. Good intentions and showing pity, or emphathizing with others, are not enough. And lastly, our love for others must be as wide and as inclusive as God’s love. God excludes no one from his care and concern. God’s love is unconditional. So we must be ready to do good to others for their sake, just as God is good to us.

Jesus not only taught God’s way of love, but he showed how far God was willing to go to share in our suffering and to restore us to wholeness of life and happiness. Jesus overcame sin, suffering, and death through his victory on the cross. His death brought us freedom from slavery to sin and the promise of everlasting life with God. He willingly shared in our suffering to bring us to the source of true healing and freedom from sin and oppression. True compassion not only identifies and emphathizes with the one who is in pain, but takes that pain on oneself in order to bring freedom and restoration.

The cross shows us God’s perfect love and forgiveness
Jesus truly identified with our plight, and he took the burden of our sinful condition upon himself. He showed us the depths of God’s love and compassion, by sharing in our suffering and by offering his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins upon the cross. His suffering is redemptive because it brings us healing and restoration and the fulness of eternal life. God offers us true freedom from every form of oppression, sin, and suffering. And that way is through the cross of Jesus Christ. Are you ready to embrace the cross of Christ, to suffer for his sake, and to lay down your life out of love for your neighbor?

“Lord Jesus, may your love always be the foundation of my life. Free me from every fear and selfish-concern that I may freely give myself in loving service to others, even to the point of laying my life down for their sake.” – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2020/oct5.htm

Reflection 7 – Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Gospel today is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It is undoubtedly one of the most popular parables of Jesus. Surprisingly, though, it is found only in the Gospel of Luke. We can look at this parable on two levels.

The first level is obvious. It is addressed to the religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, who, in their pride, believe they are best and holiest persons in the world. Hence, they look down upon those whom they consider unworthy and unclean, such as the public sinners and outsiders like the Samaritans.

The commandment of love of neighbor is not something new to the Jews. This is stipulated in the Torah, specifically in Leviticus 19:9-17. So, the scholar of the law in the Gospel today knows about this already, but he just brought up the issue because he wanted ‘to test’ the Lord.

The question of the scholar of the law is: “And who is my neighbor?” This is “because he wished to justify himself.” Jesus answers his question with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. For the Jews, this is a contradiction: there is no such thing as “Good Samaritan”. Samaritans are their enemies for they are an unclean and unfaithful people.

Through this parable, Jesus illustrates the superiority of love over legalism.  In fact, love transcends all barriers of culture, race and religious or social status. Love is the supreme law, and it is inclusive and universal, as shown by the very example of the heavenly Father: “for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

While the scribe asks, “And who is my neighbor?”, Jesus, at the end of the parable, reverses his question by asking: “Which of the three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robber’s victim?” In other words, the one looking for a neighbor is the victim. Interestingly, the scribe gives the correct answer: “The one who treated him with mercy.” A neighbor is someone who shows compassion to another person in need. In short, the question to ask is not ‘who is my neighbor?’ Rather, we should ask those persons in need, ‘Do you consider me your neighbor?’ Jesus tells the scribe not ‘who’ is his neighbor, but ‘be’ a neighbor: “Go and do likewise.”

Moreover, on a deeper level, the Good Samaritan referred to in this parable is Jesus Christ. This is the allegorical interpretation given by the Fathers of the Church. Among them is Origen (d. 254 A.D.). He explained: “The man who set forth is Adam, Jerusalem is Paradise; Jericho, the world; the thieves, the invisible power; the priest, the Law, and the Levites, the Prophets; the Samaritan, Christ; the wounds, disobedience; the beast of burden, the Body of Christ; the inn, which takes in every one, the Church; and the Samaritan’s promise, the second Coming of Christ.” (Hom. Luc. XXXIV).

In other words, therefore, the exhortation of Jesus, “Go and do likewise,” can be understood as saying, “Go, and follow my own example, for I am the Good Samaritan.” This reminds us of the event on Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” comes from the Latin word, ‘mandatum’, or command. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave the new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” He illustrated this by washing the feet of His apostles. Then He explicitly exhorted them: “You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:13-14). Go, and do likewise.

The world is full of sufferings, pains and loneliness simply because we do not treat each other as neighbors. Many of us are so content and comfortable in our ‘little worlds’ that we do not care to know who are our neighbors and what they need. In fact, in most gated subdivisions, people live for many years without even knowing the name of the people living next to their house. We are more interested in building walls, not bridges. We often forget the fact that ‘no man is an island.’ And if we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the plight of our needy brothers and sisters, very soon we will realize that our ‘little worlds’ where we are so secure and comfortable, are actually fragile and vulnerable. And as the song says, “And my world is getting smaller every day.”

And so, let us not ask ourselves ‘Who is my neighbor?’ Instead we ask, “Am I a neighbor to those people in need?’ If we are, then, our ‘little worlds’ will become bigger, more secure, peaceful and happy. (Source: Fr. Mike Lagrimas, St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Amsterdam St., Capitol Park Homes, Matandang Balara, Quezon City 1119).

Reflection 9 – Love and apathy

It’s interesting that in the parable of the Good Samaritan (today’s Gospel reading), Jesus does not tell us the identity or nationality or social status of the man who needs help. We don’t know if the traveler from Samaria helped the enemy or a fellow Samaritan.

It doesn’t matter. The sin of the priest and the Levite is that they didn’t care enough to even find out if this man was alive or dead, nor what kind of help he needed, nor even if he was a fellow Jew. Trapped in their self-centered world, they choose to completely ignore him.

The opposite of love is not hate. It’s apathy: ignoring a need, not caring, doing nothing when there is something we can do to relieve suffering.

We can identify when apathy has affected us by looking at the voids in our lives – a feeling of continual dissatisfaction, the empty, aching, lonely, scary voids that indicate something is missing.

What’s missing is love. Because the people we know do not give us all the love that we need, we must rely all the more fully on God, who is love and who is never apathetic toward us. He should fill our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind. However, the achy voids we feel are clues that we haven’t yet given him our full attention and devotion.

When God’s love isn’t filling us, we try to fill the voids with busyness, co-dependent relationships, over-eating, over-shopping, anesthetizing drinks or drugs, or self-esteem boosting accolades.

Aha, there really is no such thing as a void, is there! A vacuum sucks in whatever is near the hole. We fill our empty areas with things and people and activities that are not God. This causes apathy, because it prevents the outward flow of love, and at the same time it makes us miserable, because it never sufficiently brings us love.

Jesus says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and that every person we encounter is a neighbor. Why? Because caring for others moves us from self-centeredness to “God-filledness.” By giving love away, God rushes in and fills up the emptied places with his own presence. Alternatively, by choosing to be self-centered and apathetic, we ignore opportunities to give love away, and oh how truly unsatisfying that is!

We were not designed to be selfish. Joy and satisfaction come from actively loving everyone – which, don’t forget, includes ourselves. Doing what we can when we can – for our own needs and for others – is the cure for everything that is lacking in our lives. Read the source: https://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2020-10-05

Reflection 10 – Charity above all

In today’s Gospel (Lk 10:25-37) about the Good Samaritan, Jesus issues one of his most striking parables in response to a question that a lawyer posed as a way to test him. Our Lord had just given witness to the pair of commandments that sum up the whole of the Law: “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” We have heard these words so often that they might seem clear beyond any possible doubt. But the lawyer finds a way to ask a lawyerly question: “And who is my neighbor?”

The response that he gets makes the demanding nature of Jesus’ teaching clear: charity is not just a matter of being nice to those to whom it is nice to be nice. The virtue of charity that is required of us is a virtue of self-forgetfulness and dedication to others that is not reserved for our relatives or friends or co-workers. It is not something we may do when we find it convenient. It is not a mere ideal whose vagueness give us an excuse for explaining away our failures to act. The Lord makes the commandment of love for our neighbor second only to the commandment of love for God, and the unforgettable story he creates about the Good Samaritan gives us reason to examine our consciences carefully when we notice someone truly in need and yet are inclined to excuse ourselves from intervening.

Curiously, the setting of the story on a lonely road from Jerusalem to Jericho could make us less sensitive to its applicability to modern society (as the incredible network of emergency responders that we are fortunate to have monitoring our highways and public areas could very well let us presume that someone else will take care of accidents and injuries). This parable, after all, is designed to elucidate the meaning of brotherhood, and the moral that Jesus draws by the story’s end is that we are to show mercy like the Samaritan did when he encountered someone in desperate need. The circumstances in which we are likely to encounter such a person might vary considerably.

Imagine, for instance, someone who is less than popular at work and who is being denied due process when powerful people are intent on terminating his job. It would be wonderful if we had enough savior faire to get the person a fair hearing without offending anyone. But more often than not, standing up to the powerful, or to peer pressure, will entail some risk to our own standing. The definition of a wimp is someone who wants to be liked at all costs, and the temptation to wimp out in the defense of the weak, so as not to be disliked ourselves, can be enormous. But the parable that Christ tells here challenges that inclination. Love your neighbor as yourself, and our neighbor is the one in need.

How are we to develop a virtue like this? In the natural order, the best recipe for growing in the virtues is practice, practice, practice. We can develop moderation and temperance, for instance, by repeatedly making choices to limit our consumption of certain pleasures like alcohol or cigarettes. It may well be hard in the beginning, and we may need lots of support from others to sustain our quest for that virtue against the tendency to give in to our desires. Likewise, if we are given to white lies and want to grow in truthfulness, we can make some progress by first holding ourselves back from speaking too quickly, and perhaps we can even deny ourselves the opportunity to speak at all on a given topic if we notice any readiness to bend the truth. The asceticism involved in thinking before we speak can thus promote a firmer truthfulness while simultaneously making us more judicious when we do speak.

But even more important for the cultivation of the virtue of love that is at the center of today’s Gospel is the need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. We might remember, for example, his own way of practicing what he preached. When confronted by certain scribes and Pharisees who were ready to use the stoning of a woman caught in adultery as a way to trap him, Jesus takes the risk of resisting their pressure. In fact, he shows us how to play for time by drawing in the sand for a moment before he answers (Jn 8:6). The counter-challenge that he creates (“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her”) involves no denial of her guilt. In fact, before that story ends, he will tell her to go and sin no more. But what is especially pertinent for our present purposes is the way in which he forces his opponents to examine their own consciences and then to withdraw.

The self-forgetfulness and dedication to others of the love that is central to his commandment about loving one’s neighbor as oneself is not just about the victims of robbery and traffic accidents. Rare as this virtue may be in modern society, we are called to it by Christ. (Source: Fr. Joseph Koterski, SJ, “Homilies for Sunday Liturgies and Feasts,” Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Vol. CX, No. 9. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, June/July 2010, pp. 35-37; Suggested Readings from the Catechism: 1822-1829).

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Reflection 11 – St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938 A.D.)

St. Faustina’s name is forever linked to the annual feast of the Divine Mercy (celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter), the divine mercy chaplet and the divine mercy prayer recited each day at 3 p.m. by many people.

Born in what is now west-central Poland (part of Germany before World War I), Helena Kowalska was the third of 10 children. She worked as a housekeeper in three cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. She worked as a cook, gardener and porter in three of their houses.

In addition to carrying out her work faithfully, generously serving the needs of the sisters and the local people, she also had a deep interior life. This included receiving revelations from the Lord Jesus, messages that she recorded in her diary at the request of Christ and of her confessors.

At a time when some Catholics had an image of God as such a strict judge that they might be tempted to despair about the possibility of being forgiven, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed. “I do not want to punish aching mankind,” he once told St. Faustina, “but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart” (Diary 1588). The two rays emanating from Christ’s heart, she said, represent the blood and water poured out after Jesus’ death (John 19:34)

Because Sister Maria Faustina knew that the revelations she had already received did not constitute holiness itself, she wrote in her diary: “Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God” (Diary 1107).

Sister Maria Faustina died of tuberculosis in Krakow, Poland, on October 5, 1938. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993 and canonized her seven years later.

Comment:

Devotion to God’s Divine Mercy bears some resemblance to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In both cases, sinners are encouraged not to despair, not to doubt God’s willingness to forgive them if they repent. As Psalm 136 says in each of its 26 verses, “God’s love [mercy] endures forever.”

Quote:

Four years after Faustina’s beatification, John Paul II visited the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy at Lagiewniki (near Krakow) and addressed members of her congregation. He said: “The message of divine mercy has always been very close and precious to me. It is as though history has written it in the tragic experience of World War II. In those difficult years, this message was a particular support and an inexhaustible source of hope, not only for those living in Krakow, but for the entire nation. This was also my personal experience, which I carried with me to the See of Peter and which, in a certain sense, forms the image of this pontificate. I thank divine providence because I was able to contribute personally to carrying out Christ’s will, by instituting the feast of Divine Mercy. Here, close to the remains of Blessed Faustina, I thank God for the gift of her beatification. I pray unceasingly that God may have ‘mercy on us and on the whole world’ “(Quote from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy).

Read the source:  http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1931

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.