In today’s first reading,
Gal. 1:6-12, Paul challenges the Galatians and us to remain true to the Gospel
that is preached to us, that which we read and reflect upon in the daily and/or
weekly liturgies and that which we ponder as we personally open the Scriptures in our private prayer. Paul
describes himself as “a slave of Christ” and for that reason does not seek to
please people. In today’s Gospel, the story of the Good
Samaritan, Luke 10: 25-37, the person who stops to help the man who fell victim
of robbers is one who seeks to please God. The priest and the Levite, on the
other hand, seek to please themselves. They pass by the injured man, ignore
him. In fact, they go to the very opposite side of the road in order to avoid
him and keep themselves pure according the Mosaic Law. They are slaves to the
letter of the law. They do not show
compassion and mercy. They do not heed the words in today’s Gospel to “love the
Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your being, with all your
strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
We, too, on a daily
basis, are challenged to love as Christ’s loves. To show mercy as Christ shows
mercy. When we tenaciously cling to the
letter of the law, we are striving, most times, to please ourselves, not God. “Look
how great I am doing,” our egos boast to ourselves, even if that boast remains
in our unconscious, that is, we remain blind to what we are really doing and why we are doing it. Obeying the letter
of the law kills the law of the Spirit. How easy for us to live on this
superficial level! And how difficult,
but obviously not impossible, to live according to the Spirit. “Good Samaritans”
throughout history show us the way. Who are the “Good Samaritans”—the most
unlikely of persons—in your life who show you how to love, how to show mercy, in short, how
to be the hands and feet, the mind and heart of Christ in your world?
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