Fr Christopher Lough, Parish Priest
In our gospel we hear the
story of the Good Samaritan. We are struck by how the foreigner, the
person from Samaria, is the one who truly helps the man who is in
need. That Samaritan understood better than the "religious"
people around him what it meant to follow God. His neighbour, evenif
he seemed more like a stranger or even an enemy, was in need. He saw
it is his part to step in and help.
God's law is close to
us aswell. We know that we are to love God above all things. That
can seem quite easy to do. We can have a vague attitude of gratefulness
to God for all the things we have received. We can turn to God in
our times of need, as we're asked to do in our Psalm this weekend.
We can "behave" ourselves well in church and truly appear
to be someone who loves God. The test though, comes when we go home
again.
The Good Samaritan story helps
us realize that everybody is our neoghtbour. We're called to treat
people with courtesy, gentleness and respect. The colour of a person's
skin, their age, social status or intelligence make no difference.
They are part of our own family. We're called to extend a helping
hand. As we are in Gospel, "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 neighbour as yourself." Our
love for God must be lived out in the love we have for our neighbour.
Imagine how our lives would
change if we consistently lived that way. We'd have very few problems
in the world we live in. We could probably reduce or eliminate the
military, the police force and the court system. We wouldn't need
burglar alarms or security systems. We would be living together as
the sisters and brothers God calls us to be. We might feel a little
overwhelmed by God's commend to love our neighbour as ourselves. We
might even wonder what impact it would have on the world if we tried
to do things God's way. Mother Teresa simply stated, "It makes
a difference to this one."
