“And Who Is My Neighbor?”

“And Who Is My Neighbor?”

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD. Jonah 1:1-2

“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.’” Luke 10:33-35

Piety

Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Study

Jesus is put to the test yet again. It seems that the poor and sick never try to trap Jesus. The poor and sick only seek healing. Jesus has a constant flow of lawyers and Pharisees and other learned professions testing his knowledge.

Today’s parable of the Good Samaritan is another story told only in one Gospel. Some stories told in all three Synoptic Gospels get our attention repeatedly. Others stand out alone like an exclamation mark punctuating Jesus’ piety and action.

In this story, Jesus does not deliver a conclusion. He leaves that answer to come from the same questioner. “The one who treated him with mercy.”

Although Jesus said it before and will repeat it, today’s lesson illustrates what we need to do to hold up our half of the covenant: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Action

The measure of faith is service. “We are useless servants” is an expression of humility and availability that does so much good for the Church.

The concluding prayer to the Holy Rosary includes our petition that “we imitate what it contains.” Are you prepared to imitate the life of service exemplified by Jesus and his mother? No matter how reluctant Job was, he relented and repented. No matter how much the Jews hated his people, the Samaritan relented and repented.

Is it our time now?