Fullerton T

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This weekend we celebrate the 15^th Sunday in ordinary time and we pray for all the intentions that our families and the people around us in our communities have and we also continue our prayer for the peace of the world as well. In our Gospel reading for this Sunday Jesus is asked the question ‘who is my neighbor?”  When I was a youngster your neighbours were the people that lived next door to you or those who lived in your street or road they were the families you would go to when you ran out of milk or sugar to borrow some or to share the news about the people and happenings in the area.  The Gospel story also tells us about the Good Samaritan it is a story that all of us are familiar with. It was the Samaritan who stopped with the man who was lying on the side of the road it was the Samaritan who was moved with compassion to help him. The Priest and the Levite walked on and passed by on the other side of the road because they felt that it was beneath their dignity to help the man. What does our Gospel story tell us about love for one’s neighbor today?

First, it tells us that we must be willing to help even if others brought trouble on themselves for whatever reason. Second, our concern to help others must be practical, and lastly, our love for others must be as wide and as inclusive as God’s love for us.  We remember that God excludes no one from his care. So we must be ready to do good to others just as God is good to us. Jesus not only taught God’s way of love, he also showed how far God was willing to go to share in our suffering and to restore our wholeness in life and happiness. Jesus overcame sin, suffering, and death through his victory on the cross. True compassion not only identifies and empathizes with the one who is in pain, it also takes that pain on in order to bring freedom and restoration.  Our world is mor inclines to do  things that hurt more people You only have to look at the war in Ukraine to see that. We are members of the community of nations that make up our  world so we cannot pretend that it’s got nothing to do with us for it has everything to do with us as Christians.

In these days with a lot of turmoil and confusion in the world the  words of the first reading ring in our ears obey the voice of the Lord and what is the Lord asking us to do ? we are being asked  to reach out in order to show friendship to our neighbours and those who have come to be our neighbours from other places. At the end of the Gospel Jesus askes the Lawyer Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the brigands‘ hands?’ ‘The one who took pity on him’ the lawyer replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Go, and do the same yourself.’ There it is in the readings we as followers of Jesus today are asked to go and  do the same as the good Samaritan to show compassion and not to walk on by like the Levite and the priest.