Lk. 10: 25-37
The greatest gift that you can have in your life is a friend/ brother/sister/ parents who is ready to suffer with you and carry yourself to a green pasture…
Looking back, there are number of individuals who touched me deeply and left lasting impressions. It wasn’t their efficiency or skilla that moved me, but, their compassionate heart.
Let me narrate a small incident that inspired me to come out of my selfishness and reach out to others in need. We were indeed blessed to have a novice master who helped us to form convictions by being faithful to his own convictions. Our novitiate is situated in a hilly area and so it is often cold there. Once I was getting late for the Morning Prayer therefore, I had to rush to the chapel. In that rush, I forgot to take my warm clothes.
Unfortunately that morning was colder than the usual and added to that there was this freezing wind. If anything could get worse, I was sitting by the chapel window; since it was stuffy inside, we had no other option, but to keep it open. During the Mass, the cold wind blew inside and I could not resist it, literally I was shivering. I tried my level best to hide my struggle. After some time the situation became favourable. Our master was the main celebrant at the Mass that day. Immediately, after the mass, he called me to the office and pointed out to a thick cotton shawl that was on his chair and said: “That shawl is little old, if you are comfortable with that you can take it, it will keep you warm.” It was a great surprise for me because an insignificant event happened in a small corner didn’t go unnoticed and made significant impact in my life. Indeed I was longing for a shawl since it is easier to handle…
Today’s gospel passage poses to us this question: who is your neighbour? But this parable also invites us to reflect upon the corollary question: are you a good neighbour? This parable is always relevant because there is a tendency in all of us to be selfish especially in these times when lot of individualistic thinking is creeping into our life. The parable invites us to reflect on various attitudes that we have especially towards one who is in need. The greatest sacrifice could be giving our time for the other. The priest and the Levite of the parable cannot be considered as malicious but the problem was that they were too legalistic. According to the Jewish law if they touch a dead person they would become impure, rendering them unfit to serve at the temple. However, they forgot the tenderness of God’s heart. They failed in their charity and they were not ready to sacrifice their time and they did not even express the basic courtesy to see whether the person is alive or dead. They limited themselves to the letter of the law than the spirit of the law which would tell us, “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” Whereas, the Samaritan, goes out of his way becomes the paragon of love towards humanity. He was not a Jew yet he sacrificed his time, bandaging wounds with lots of care and compassion, taking him on his donkey to the inn keeper and made all the necessary arrangements for his speedy recovery. His spontaneous random act of kindness saved the man.
Who is this Samaritan? Who else has sacrificed his own comfort, time, entering into the suffering of the other, pouring oil and bandaging his wounds, carrying the wounded man to a green pasture and made arrangements to ensure his complete recovery? Who else, other than Jesus himself, the saviour of humanity. Let us imitate him and become good human beings by performing acts of random kindness towards our fellow brethren. Let us grow in the spirituality of Good Samaritan who cares and suffers with the one who is in need…