Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 15th, 2019
In the Tenth Chapter of his Gospel, St. Luke tells us about the time when Our Blessed Lord was answering questions. St. Luke tells us that a certain lawyer asked Our Lord what must we do to inherit eternal life. Now Our Lord wanted to see what the man would say so He asked the lawyer what does it say in the Law? To this question the lawyer responded: "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." (St. Luke 10:27) Our Lord was impressed with this answer which the man gave and told him if he does this he will indeed live. But the lawyer asked a follow-up question. He asked Our Lord: "And who is my neighbor?" (St. Luke 10:29) Now we must understand why the man asked this question because it was actually a very good question for him to ask. This is because to the Jews a "neighbor" was a fellow Jew. In other words, a non-Jew would not be considered a neighbor. This led Our Lord to tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We all know this parable. This is the parable which tells the story of the man who fell victim to thieves and nobody would help the man. That is nobody would help him until a Samaritan found the man and helped him. The Samaritan, Our Lord tells us, had compassion on this poor soul. He took the man to an inn where the man could receive care and the Samaritan even paid out of his own pocket for the care this man received.
Our Blessed Saviour told this parable with two ends in mind, in my humble opinion. First, He wanted to show that a person's neighbor is not based on religion. In other words, those who were listening to Him based their definition of a neighbor being a Jew. Our Lord pointed out that it was the Samaritan, a non-Jew, who was the one who truly took mercy and helped his neighbor. In other words, as faithful, devout, committed Christians should not base our compassion on "externals," whether they be religion . . . . or race . . . or gender .. . We could go on and on but the point is that we are called to follow Our Blessed Lord's example. Our Lord did not limit His compassion. He spent time with people in all conditions of life.
The second thing I would dare say which Our Lord was pointing out was that we need to back up our words with actions. Have you ever met someone who talked a good game but that is basically all they did: talk? Actions speak louder than words. As Christians, it is not enough just to get dressed up and go to church on Sunday. Yes, we need to go to church on Sunday but we need to live out our beliefs the rest of the week in the way we treat others. When Our Lord founded the Church, he intended for us to be an active participant. In other words, we are His instruments in the world. God uses us as His hands . .. . . His feet. Honestly, the vast majority of the people we meet with, interact with and encounter, during the week probably won't be active church members. The majority of people we come into contact with probably don't go to church . . . . don't read the Bible . . . don't pray . . . . the majority of these people probably don't have time for God. And it is to these people that you will be the "face of God." It is through those encounters that you will have the opportunity to tell them about God. And this you will do not only through your words but also through your actions.
The neighbors we will encounter will come in all shapes and sizes. Some will go to church and others won't care about going to church. God is calling us to be His instrument in the world. It will be up to us to decide what we will be and who we will be.
St. Margaret Church gathers together every Sunday morning and we would love for you to join us in our weekly worship of Our Heavenly Father. Mass begins at 9:30 AM. We celebrate Mass in the Chapel of Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road in Indianapolis, Indiana. Please choose to take some time out of your busy schedule to spend some quality time with God.
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