THE LAW IS TO PROVE YOURSELF A NEIGHBOUR
Greeting (Cf. First Reading)
May the Word of God be very near to us
in our mouths and in our hearts,
and may Jesus, the living Word and our Lord,
always be with you.
R/ And with your spirit.
Introduction
Love is the core and meaning of life; it is also the summit of the commandments. We know this. But the question is: How genuine and deep is our love? The test will be how far we are willing to be inconvenienced by it, to “lose” time for it, to go out of our way for it, and to have a heart for strangers and misfits too. Jesus is with us here: he was moved with compassion at the sight of sinners, the sick and the suffering.
Looking at the story of today, it is easy to pray for all the people who are suffering and in need, but Jesus asks of us today: “What do you do for them?” It is easy if we have the means to just write a check and send it, for then we are not bothered any further. But Jesus asks us: “Are you willing to make personal contact and to make your hands dirty for them?” Let us ask him, the first Good Samaritan, to make us good neighbours to all who need us.
Penitential Act
The Law Is in Your Heart
We want to love people and the Lord.
But we know that our love is often inadequate.
We now ask the Lord and each other for forgiveness.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you came among us
as compassionate as the Good Samaritan;
you lift up all the downcast:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you make yourself near
to those wounded in their body or their life
and you bring them healing:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you ask us
to show your own affectionate love
to everyone in need, whatever the cost.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins,
especially our lukewarm love.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that we may always be available
to people who need us
(pause)
Tender and merciful Father,
you did not let your Son pass us by
in our poverty and pain,
but you let him make himself our neighbor.
Make our heart go out
to those who lie wounded by the roadside
and give us the courage
to lose time on them to lift them up
and to care for them until they are healed.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Deut 30:10-14): The Law of the Heart
God calls us to be converted to him and to obey him and his commandments. For God is near to us and his law is written in our hearts.
1 Reading: DEUTERONOMY 30:10-14
Moses said to the people: “If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul. “For this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky, that you should say, ‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.”
Responsorial PSALM: 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37
R. (cf. 33) Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness:
in your great mercy turn toward me. R.
I am afflicted and in pain;
let your saving help, O God, protect me.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” R.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
The descendants of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall inhabit it. R.
Second Reading (Col 1:15-20): God Is Near to Us in Christ
This is what an ancient hymn to Christ tells us: How near God wanted to be to people became visible in his Son Jesus Christ; Jesus is the head of all creation and of all those he saved by his love.
2 Reading: COLOSSIANS 1:15-20
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
Alleluia: Cf. JOHN 6:63c, 68c
Alleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel (Luke 10:25-37): Everyone in Need Is My Neighbor
To have eternal life it is not enough to know that we ought to love God and our neighbour; we must also practice this love, even when it is inconvenient or when the other person is an enemy. For every person in need is our brother or sister.
Gospel: LUKE 10:25-37
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him 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 neighbour?” 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 neighbour to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Commentary
Letting Oneself be Moved
The Commandments of God are written in our hearts, as natural law. Christ is the Firstborn who models for us how to live God’s Law. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us how to put God’s commandment to practice.
When the Samaritan saw the wounded man, he was moved with compassion. The Greek word used for this being moved with compassion is “splagchnizomai.” This word, according to theologian James Allison, is “the parable’s bombshell.” The noun form “splagchna” was used in Greek literature to designate the inner parts (bowels) of a blood sacrifice. When the heart was cut out during a sacrificial ritual, it was called a splagchna. It later became a generic term for the inner organs. Hence, using the word to refer to being moved implies a gut-wrenching reaction. In other words, the compassion of the Samaritan is not a reasoned-out, calculated decision based on an analysis of pros and cons, but an innate, spontaneous reaction emerging from his entrails, which moves him into action. “Go and do the same” is an invitation to make empathic compassion one’s core nature.
Pray for the grace of empathy—the capacity to be moved by the needs of others.
Do anyone of the fourteen works of mercy, as taught by the Church.
Intercessions
Let us present to our God who cares our concern for the people whom God has placed on our road of life, and let us say:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For all ministers of the Church, that they may faithfully proclaim God’s word and God’s law and at the same time walk in God’s ways of compassion and love without measure, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For all those whose profession it is to help the sick and the needy – like doctors, nurses, social assistants – that they may be motivated by gentleness and love for those they help, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For those who lie wounded by the road of life, that they may find good Samaritans who assist them to restore their faith in life and their trust in people, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For drivers and travelers, that they may have a safe journey, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For all those who have been good neighbors to us, that the Lord may reward them, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– And for all of us, that we may have for one another time and attention and a helping hand, let us pray:
R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
Lord God, people are your gift to us. Help us to love one another with the generous love you have shown us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
R/ Amen.
Preparation of the Gifts
Lord our God,
you want us not to seek security
in observing the letter of the law
but to seek the insecurity
of committing ourselves
to you and to people.
Give us the courage to take the risk
and, like Jesus, make the sacrifice
of giving ourselves to you
in our neighbors in need,
of sharing in their joys and sorrows,
their problems and their protests,
that we may know and love them
as you know and love us
in Christ Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
We remember in the Eucharistic prayer the total love shown us by Jesus in his death on the cross and the giving of the Eucharist. Let us give our wholehearted thanks to the Father.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
As sons and daughters of one Father,
we are called to love one another.
Let us pray with all trust
to him who is our Father: R/ Our Father…
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy, make us free
from our fears and formalisms,
and help us to love our neighbor
as you yourself love us—
with all your heart and soul—
as we work in joyful hope
for the return in glory
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God
who laid down his life that we might live.
Happy are we to be united
around the table of the Lord
as the Lord’s brothers and sisters. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
when, exhausted and hungry,
we sat by the side of the road,
you sent us Jesus your Son.
We thank you for letting him speak to us
his tender words of encouragement
and for healing with his body and blood
our wounds caused by sin.
Let him give us here the love
that makes us near to all the miseries
of our brothers and sisters who suffer.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Several people saw the man
who lay half-dead by the side of the road,
but it was a stranger who came and took pity on him.
Go and help people around you
who are suffering, humiliated, beaten by life.
Lift them up, bind their wounds,
waste your time on them,
and give them the best of yourselves,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go and love one another
as the Lord loves us.
R/ Thanks be to God.