Gospel Reflection:15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel According to 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."

This passage can be interpreted in many ways, and it's important that we cultivate a prayer life so that it may be read in light of the Holy Spirit and in union with magisterial teachings (I'll touch on this more later). Upon reflecting on this passage, what stood out to me the most was how Christ outlines exactly what the law commands of us. Jesus is pretty direct when he deems it appropriate.

"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."

As a clinician, I think about how necessary it is to love God first, especially when it comes to my work. Working in healthcare can be extremely taxing. Working in any form can be extremely taxing if we do not put God at the center of it. In the case of the scholar of the law that Jesus was speaking to, I wonder what his reason was for trying to justify not loving his neighbor. Being God, I'm sure Jesus knew his heart and perceived that there was a generosity missing in his actions. So much so that he needed to provide a story to illustrate the commandments he had just pointed out. While this may be the case for this scholar of the law, I think it can be different for everyone.

I perceive the initial command as encouraging believers to focus so intensely on loving God and developing their inner spiritual life that the love Jesus urges us to show towards our neighbors naturally flows from the intimacy of our relationship with Christ. I think to really love with the generosity of the Good Samaritan, it requires that level of intimacy that is developed in loving God with all one's heart, being, strength, and mind. Not once did the Samaritan "love" in a way that disregarded his own human dignity. It was and is only in loving God first that we are able to recognize our dignity so we can recognize it in others. This, I believe, is where the Good Samaritan's generosity came from.

I bring this up because there is a culture of burnout in the Catholic mental health system (though present in secular mental health as well), which I believe can only be remedied with Catholic teachings on the inherent dignity of man. While this is a beautiful gospel reading, if not read in light of the Holy Spirit, it can be used to justify cycles of use and burnout even in professions that are attempting to do good. As Albert Einstein stated, "Science explains how; religion explains why." Psychology may (to a degree) explains the psyche of man, but it doesn't explain why we have inherent dignity; only God does.

So yes, love as the Good Samaritan, though above all else be obedient to the command of God who is love itself. The first steps of the Sequela Christi (following of Christ) are paved with the Ten Commandments (summarized in the 1st and 2nd greatest commandments as referenced above), though to have the freedom to love deeply as the Good Samaritan, it requires a level of obedience that we may not anticipate. Let us not be like the scholar of the law and question Christ incessantly, seeking to justify the shortcomings of our heart; let us respond like Our Lady and simply say "yes" to where the Holy Spirit is leading us. And even if we cannot bring ourselves to say "yes" to God at this time, we can always ask for the grace to say "yes" to Him. He cannot be outdone in generosity.

Pax et bonum.