Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 10th, 2017

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 10th, 2017

The section of the Gospel appointed for today's Mass comes to us from the Tenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke and this section actually begins in the 23rd Verse.  There is so much to ponder in these last verses of this tenth chapter:  First, a lawyer questions Our Lord on how to inherit eternal life.  Our Lord, instead of answering the question directly, asks the lawyer a question first:  "What is written in the law? how readest thou?"  It is then that the man quotes Scripture by answering:  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." (V. 27)  Here, the man is certainly quoting what is known as the "Shema" or the Jewish call to worship, if you will.  You can find this in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:  "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."  But when the lawyer has finished, he asks Our Lord the question pertaining to who exactly is his neighbor?  In other words, he wanted to know who he was supposed to love and who he could get away with not loving, so to speak, I suppose.  This leads Our Lord into telling the story of the what has come to be known as "The Good Samaritan."  In this story, Our Lord points out that while a man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho, he was ambushed by thieves who left the man half dead.  While he was laying there, not only did a priest pass him by but also a Levite.  Neither one of these men, Our Lord points out, lifted a finger to help the man in distress.  Only the Samaritan was willing to help the man left for dead along the way.  In fact, the Samaritan certainly went out of his way by doing what he could to heal the wounds; bringing him to an inn so that the man could rest; and paying for the man to be taken care of.  

It seems to me that the Good Lord wants us to help people as best as we can.  Right now, there is so much suffering going on in the world.  And if you have a heart, it's hard NOT to be moved when you see images of people losing their homes and you see images of people taking their pets and a few possessions . . .  basically a few things that they can carry.  With Hurricane Harvey a few weeks back down in Texas and Louisiana.  And now Hurricane Irma winding its' way through the Caribbean and into Florida.  When you hear about the wild fires in parts of California, and Oregon, and even in Canada.  And this week there was also an earthquake in Mexico.  When you see and hear about all of these events, it is easy to get overwhelmed.  There seems to be so much devastation all over.  Again, most people care.  Most people want to help.  Most people are moved with compassion.  It's just that you don't know where to begin, what to do,  . . . you don't know the best course of action, so to speak.  Well, first and foremost, we need to pray.  I mean seriously pray.  We, as a country, need to set aside our wants . . . set aside our desires . . . set aside our normal routine of daily living  . . . .and use that time solely for God.  As a nation, we need to get on our knees and pray for God's guidance and His strength and His knowledge.  We need to ask God to bless our nation and that we will turn back to Him.  Most people run to God when they are in trouble.  But we need to have God number one in our lives not just when we need Him.  Not just when we need something.  You see, this ties back in with what we heard earlier . . . the prayer that the lawyer quoted from Deuteronomy . . . . " And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might"   The key word here is "all."  Most folks seem to love God, yes, but they only seem to have time for God when they need Him . . .  when they are in trouble . . . .  when they've run out of options.  It is then that people go running towards God imploring Him for His help.  We need to love God ALL of the time and not just SOME of the time (i.e., just when we need His help).  The second thing to remember is that even though we can't solve all the problems of the world by ourselves.   We can at least do what is in our power.  The "Good Samaritan" took action.  He did what he could to help the man he saw along the roadway.  Do what you can to help others.  And then ask the Good Lord to guide you where He wants you to be.  God will open doors for us if we only pay attention.  The problem is that so often even when the Good Lord opens a door, we are so busy with other things, we are too busy to notice.  That is why I say, take time to pray . . .  take time to listen to God .  . . . take time to ponder what God would have us do.  God will lead us, yes, but we have to be willing to follow.

St. Margaret meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Join us for Mass as we listen to God speaking to us and worship Him and give Him our thanks for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us.