Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Donna Del Santo
The Good Samaritan by Annie Henrie Nader
Opening Prayer
Psalm 69 (From Psalms for Praying © 2007 Nan C. Merrill)
O Beloved, create within me a wholesome heart. Let me live simply, sharing what I have with those in need, that the abundance of your creation might be reflected.
Let me speak out of the Silence, that through the words given, others will learn of You. Come to my aid, Gentle Healer, for my prayer is to You. In your perfect timing, Beloved, in the abundance of your Love, answer my cry.
With your strength, O Rock, lift me up, let me not sink into the mire; Let me be delivered from my fears as from deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the abyss overwhelm me.
Increase my faith as you draw near, Loving Companion Presence. May many come to know You within their hearts. Surprise them with the Spirit of Joy, that they might be glad and rejoice!
Reading
Luke 10:25-37
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Reflection
(With excerpts from a talk given by Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. on the Good Samaritan, at a March 24 conference on migrants and refugees, hosted by Jesuit Refugee Service/USA and the Center for Migration Studies of New York.)
“The figure of the Good Samaritan provides the centerpiece of this parable. The Good Samaritan is a foreigner, this is so crucial to the parable, a foreigner and a stranger in that society in which he is living, an outcast, and yet he comes by, and he sees the man lying by the side of the road and he stops, he overcomes the danger and the indifference, and he stops and lifts the man up, helps him on his donkey, and takes him and cares for him so that he might be well and rescued from his suffering,” the Cardinal said.
“This is the example of the figure that each of us is called to be, one who sacrifices and thinks of others in their hardship and in their suffering, and who is not bound by the chains of indifference and fear, to let that suffering go by, and merely walk along.”
A present-day example of the Good Samaritan took place during the devastating flash floods that struck the Texas Hill Country early on July 4th, claiming over 180 lives, including many children. Silvana Garza Valdez and María Paula Zárate, both 19 years old, and from Mexico, were counselors at Camp Mystic when the Guadalupe River rose by 26 feet in just 45 minutes, sweeping away cabins, vehicles, and lives. Despite the chaos and fear, or concern for their own safety, these two young counselors acted quickly in order to rescue the 20 girls under their direct care. To ensure identification, they wrote the girls’ names on their arms and guided their campers to higher ground and safety until they could be rescued.
The bravery and quick action of these two young women from Mexico was lifesaving for these 20 young campers in Texas, “We thank God we were okay, and that most of the girls were rescued,” Silvana said. “Of course, we’re praying for those still missing.” These two young women are much like the foreigner, the Good Samaritan, of the gospel, for they are women of faith and sacrifice of compassion and care.
Returning to the words of Cardinal McElroy, “As Americans we must grapple with the dark side of our history, because while we have a legacy as a nation of immigrants, there has also been a legacy of exclusion of immigrants, of denigration of immigrants, of caricaturing of immigrants,” and he pointed out how when earlier generations of Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants settled here, they were also “considered inimical to a good American society.”
“Many themes that are supporting the effort to undermine the rights and human dignity of immigrants in our country today come from the darkest parts of our history and the belief that our culture is being undermined. That is why we must point to the immigrant as the true Good Samaritans in all this…the vast majority are here for the same reason that people came to our country and built it up,” the Cardinal said.
“We have to struggle with this. We have to overcome indifference. We have to face it for what it is and get beyond it, and that’s my understanding of the core of what Jesus is talking about in the parable. Jesus is saying if you truly wish to be my follower, you must in your heart and in your soul have that love for the stranger which the Good Samaritan exhibited and take the risk which the Good Samaritan did for the stranger, if you are to be my disciple. Truly in this world at this moment, that is what we must do.”
What is the struggle you may need to overcome to welcome “the foreign neighbor?”
What is the risk you may need to take to truly be Christ’s disciple?
Good Samaritan Prayer
God of love, May we always see the world through the eyes of the Good Samaritan and be filled with your deep compassion. Help us to be merciful neighbors even when it is inconvenient, when we don’t have time, or when we have other responsibilities to attend to. Grant us the insight to see the need in those around us, the wisdom to know how to respond, and the strength to do so willingly. We pray for those we might cross the road to avoid – those who are poor, vulnerable and marginalized. Those who, in many and various ways, have been stripped, beaten and left for dead. We pray for all who call from us more than we feel we have to give. Open our eyes, that we might not cross the road from human need. May our love of you and love of our neighbor call us to be people of peace and justice in the world. And may we, like the Good Samaritan, always ‘go and do likewise.’ Amen.
Vincent Van Gogh The Good Samaritan (1890)
Break our Hearts by Vicky Beeching https://youtu.be/7zGQL-O9aew
