The Good Samaritan

In the Gospel of today's Liturgy, we once again hear of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus, in the story, tells of three persons who met a dying man along the way. The two -- the priest and the Levite, saw the wounded man but did not bother to help for an acceptable reason: ritual impurity. As "clerics," they cannot afford to get impure else they are disqualified from leading (or participating even) in the community worship. The third man however, a Samaritan (someone despised by the Jews) stopped and attended to the man's needs. He did not only dress the man's wounds but went a step further by bringing him to an inn and taking very good care of him.

In one word, the Gospel only wants to get one simple yet powerful message across: CHARITY. Many reflections on this parable would focus on our challenge to be charitable, to emulate the example of the Good Samaritan. But allow me to rather focus on the wounded man. Many times in our life we get to a point of "being robbed" by unfortunate events which drain our physical and emotional resources. Many times we are left alone by the very people we love in trying and difficult moments. At one point in our lives, we were like this man -- robbed, beaten, and left half-dead. But God in His providence and love would always send people who will help us out and who will rescue us from such unfortunate circumstances, in the same way he sent the Good Samaritan to this beaten man.

Let us try to remember moments when "Good Samaritans" came to our rescue. People who we know and may not know yet in a very gentle and assuring manner showed us that we are not alone. Let us thank God for them. They, in their simplicity of ways and generosity of heart, have manifested to us in a very powerful way the Providential presence of our God. They made the line "God is love" real and tangible.

God bless you.