Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 10, 2016
First Reading: DT
30:10-14
Responsorial Psalm: PS
69:14,17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37
Second Reading: COL
1:15-20
Gospel: LK 10: 25-37
I used to think today's
gospel was a no-brainer: Everyone knew that what we were called to do was to
tend to those who are discarded by the side of the road. Maybe not everyone
understood the overwhelming generosity of the Samaritan, but everyone knew
intuitively that the man had to be tended to in his need.
However, having listened
to presidential candidates trip over each other in promising ever-crueler
treatment of immigrants; having witnessed the tone in Europe change toward
refugees, and our own politicians sowing hatred toward those who are escaping
the violence of their homelands; having seen our politicians unable to provide
funding for those who are infected with the Zika virus; or even provide funding
for our own social services here in Illinois, simply because politics is more
important than people in need, I have had to re-think what I thought was a
given. Now, it seems like the priest and the Levite have gained the ascendency
in American society, and that I can no longer take for granted those things
which I had previously assumed everyone agreed with.
The words of Pope
Francis, addressed to Europe, in accepting the Charlemagne Prize, ring true of America as
well: "What has happened to you, the Europe of humanism, the champion of
human rights, democracy and freedom? ..... What has happened to you, Europe,
the mother of peoples and nations, the mother of great men and women who upheld
and even sacrificed their lives for the dignity of their brothers and
sisters?" In the Pope's mind, another Europe is emerging; and it seems
that another America is emerging as well.
The Scripture readings
for today speak of a different way of looking at the world, and of finding our
place in the world. In the first reading, Moses speaks to the people of the law
of God which "is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in
your hearts." He tells his people "you have only to carry it
out." It ought to be that simple! What God requires of us is already
written on our hearts. We have only to carry it out.
That might appear to be
simple, and should give us the answer to the man by the side of the road. But
there is a first step that Moses says needs to be taken. And that is to "return
to the Lord your God, with all your heart and all your soul." In order to
be able to recognize the law of God that is written on our hearts, we must
first convert. It's not something that happens automatically; it only happens
with conversion. We must first learn to read our hearts, on which is written
God's merciful law.
And that conversion
means recognizing the unity of creation that comes through Jesus, as Paul tells
us in the second reading, in whom all the fullness of creation dwells.
The first step, then, is
seeing creation in a new light. It is not simply "creation as it
seems", but creation as it has been redeemed through the resurrection of
Jesus. That's what prepares us to read the law of God written on our hearts,
and prepares us to "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." Seeing the fullness of creation which resides in Jesus
allows us to act in a different way toward the world, because we have seen the
world in a different way.
That is the basis for
Jesus turning the scholar's question around. The scholar asks, "Who is my
neighbor?" but Jesus answers, "Who are you neighbor to?" When we
do not see the unity of creation, we impose our own divisions on it. We make
the distinction between who is my neighbor, and who is not; who do I help, and
who do I not; who is worthy of what I have, and who is not. I become the
arbiter of that, and look at the world from a position of power, and by looking
at the world from the outside.
When, on the other hand,
I have to answer the question, "Who am I a neighbor to?", then I ask
the question from inside the world. I do not stand apart from it, or act as the
judge over the world and over its peoples.
In speaking of this
parable in a General Audience of April 27, 2016, Pope Francis notes the
reversal of the question, and urges us: "Do not stand by classifying
others by sight who is my neighbor and who is not. You can become neighbor to
any needy person you meet, and you will know that you have compassion in your
heart, that is, whether you have the capacity to suffer with the other."
This means, the Pope says, "compromising oneself, taking all the necessary
steps so as to approach the other to the point of identifying with him: 'you
shall love your neighbor as yourself.' This is the Lord's commandment."
This ability to see my
neighbor as myself is at the heart of our compassion as followers of Jesus. It
allows us to see our oneness with all of creation, which has been brought
together in Jesus' name, to the glory of God.
Adjunct Professor
Director, Hesburgh
Sabbatical ProgramCatholic Theological Union
No comments:
Post a Comment