I was walking with my parents in a toy store. I was about six or seven. Something, I no longer remember what, caught my eye. I stayed to look at it and not only lost track of time but my parents. After putting the item back, I walked around and my family was nowhere in sight. I walked out of the store and into the mall and looked left and right watching people going by and not recognizing anyone. I began to feel nervous and teared up.
My mother’s voice came to my mind which said if I was ever lost to stay where I was, and she would find me. I walked across from the entrance and sat down on a bench. After a few minutes, a woman walked by, and not only did she take the time to notice me, she was willing to make the time to come close, see that I was upset, and sat with me until my parents returned.
I wonder if she knew today’s gospel because she lived it out.
A scholar of the law challenged Jesus about what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded with his own question, “What is written in the law?”
Most likely a scribe, the man quoted Deuteronomy and Leviticus about loving God and neighbor. Jesus commended him and said, “do this and you will live.” He would have eternal life if he followed the precepts he just laid out, yet he missed it. He pushed the matter further by asking Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus welcomed the opportunity to answer him by following up with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The key point is that the Pharisee and the Levite both refused to come close to their fellow Jewish brother who was badly injured on the side of the road. The one who did come close, was not one of the injured man’s own, but a Samaritan. Not only was he willing to come close and see this man’s condition, he took care of him.
St. Mother Teresa shared a story of when she brought a cup of rice to a family because they had no food. The Hindu woman received the rice, immediately cut the portion in half and left. When she returned, Mother Teresa asked her, “What did you do?”
The woman said, “They were hungry too.” Mother was not surprised by her generosity, but that she was aware that her neighbors, a Muslim family, were hungry too.
Are we aware? Like this Hindu woman, aware of the need of those around us even if they are not like us? Like the Good Samaritan, who risked his life for an enemy? Like the woman who was willing to set aside her schedule, sit with and comfort me, until my parents returned?
Are we willing to resist the temptation to look away and be indifferent to the needs of others, or instead are we willing to be aware, to come close enough to encounter another no matter who they are, and to be moved with compassion, to love as we have been loved by Jesus, who was willing to come close, to become human, to bandage up our wounds and comfort us at our worst?
Henri Nouwen wrote, “Real care means the willingness to help each other in making the gateway of our brokenness into our joy.”
Photo: End my days with the mother of compassion, Mary – Rosary walk St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 