Author: P. Sergio A. Cordova LC "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said, "What is written in the law? How do you read? "He answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself." Then said: "You have answered. Do that and you will live. " But he wanted to justify himself, said to Jesus: "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered, "a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat after, they departed leaving him half dead. Incidentally, going down that road a priest and saw him, took a detour. Likewise, a Levite who passed by that place and saw him a rodeo. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to him and saw him had compassion, and came and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and set him on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave the innkeeper, saying, "Take care of him and whatever more you spend, you'll pay when I return." Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? "He said:" He who showed mercy on him. " Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."
Reflection
Zirer Edith is a Jewish woman who lives on the outskirts of Haifa. He tells how he was freed from the Auschwitz concentration camp when he was 13 years old. He had been there three. "It was a cold winter morning in 1945, two days after release, he tells us. I arrived at a small railway station between Czestochowa and Krakow. I lay in a corner of a large room where dozens of refugees had still to striped suit of the death camps. He saw me. It came with a big cup area, the first hot beverage testing in several weeks. After he brought me a cheese sandwich, made with black bread, delicious. I would not eat. I was too tired. He forced me. Then I said I had to walk to boarding. I tried but I fell to the ground. Then I took her in his arms and carried me for a long time, miles, in tow, while the snow fell. I remember his brown jacket and told me quietly that the death of his parents, his brother, and told me that he also suffered, but it was necessary not to succumb to the pain and fight to live in hope. His name stuck with me forever my memory: Karol Wojtyla. Today I would like to give a thank you from the bottom of my heart. far this beautiful and moving testimony of real life, told by the same protagonist. Perhaps you will also have loved to have met this young Polish ... Today is Pope John Paul II, you know. This is eloquent enough to understand a little more of himself and of his pontificate. All his life, since I was a seminarian, and then priest, bishop and pope, has been a constant gift to others. In this light we better understand his pontificate, his many pastoral visits, his great humanity and sensitivity in dealing with all people-and In the case of children, young or old, "and his special affection for the weak, the sick and those who suffer in body or in spirit. He knows very closely the human suffering, has lived and experienced firsthand, and from younger brother learned to pity the suffering, regardless of age, race, gender, culture or religion. This is being a good Samaritan!
In today's Gospel Jesus tells us the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer comes close to the Lord and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. And our Lord did not hesitate for a second: meets the first commandment of the law is, "love God above all things and thy neighbor as thyself. " But the lawyer insists and tries to justify. Then it springs from the lips and the heart of this parable Jesus so human and so full of mercy.
But there is an interesting fact should be noted: the lawyer asks Jesus who his neighbor. And our Lord, concluding his narrative, he asks the lawyer: "Which of these three behaved as a neighbor?". Jesus turns the tables and changes the question: not enough to know who is our neighbor, but we must behave as true neighbors of others. "Neighbor" is not, therefore, a concept, nor is it only the one on our side. For Jesus and for the Christian becomes a moral connotation deeply anthropological, and therefore, a strong spiritual nature, "others" are all human beings, without distinction, and deserve our respect, our deepest consideration and of our love. Exactly how does the pope. The opposite of selfishness, personal interests or the satisfaction of one's own passions.
Or as Mother Teresa of Calcuta.Y as did so many saints and faithful children of the Church. Teresa used to repeat often: "Never let anyone come to us and not leaving better and happier. The most important is not what we take, but the love we put in giving. Is your time to practice charity. Is the key to paradise. " 
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical on human pain, "Salvifici Doloris", we are a reflection on the Good Samaritan: "The Samaritan, he says, proved to be, really, the 'others' in that unhappy fell into the hands of thieves. 'Neighbor' also means that fulfills the commandment to love our neighbor ... Nor can we 'go long' with indifference, but must 'Stop' to the side of the sufferer. Good Samaritan, in effect, every person who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever. And that pause does not mean curiosity but availability. This is like the opening of a certain interior disposition of the heart, which is also expressed emotion "(Salv Dol., N. 28). | But this is not enough. This knowledge understanding and experience with those who suffer, glad to be happy and mourn with those who cry, this "become all things to all" of Paul is "to save them all" (I Cor 9, 22). The Good Samaritan is the one with a good heart, compassionate and merciful, he is moved to the suffering of others. But it also makes every effort to alleviate it, not only sharing and "with" suffering "in their pain, but also doing something effective for remedy. As did the Samaritan of the parable. quintessential Good Samaritan is our Lord Jesus Christ. He "had compassion and softened the crowds they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9, 36). And then put to work to remedy their spiritual and physical needs: the comforting, and preached the love of the Father, and treated his physical illness and healing every disease, multiplied the loaves to feed them, blind them back at sight, cured the lepers, raised the dead. And at the end of his earthly life, he himself wanted to give us their whole being in the Eucharist and Calvary, dying for us to give us eternal life. This is being a good Samaritan. And you, are you as a good Samaritan? Have you ever stopped along the road of life to heal the wounds of the suffering in your body or your soul? You want to be, starting today, a good Samaritan to your neighbor? Hopefully he will. Do this and live! |
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