"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." Luke 10:27
Have you ever been in love? Most people have in some way at some level. When you are totally in love, you experience a tremendous feeling of happiness. But when you fall out of love, you lose that sense of joy and can become disgruntled, complacent or even angry. Today's gospel from Saint Luke finds the scholar asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. The scholar tells Jesus the law that one must love the Lord, "with all your heart, being, strength and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself." God wants us to love him and to love our neighbors, just as we do ourselves. But to love with the type of love that God wants from us, it takes sacrifice and courage. We must stretch ourselves; lose all preconceived notions and judgements, to love those who are our neighbors. The scholar in the gospel asks the Lord, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus the shares the loving parable of the Good Samaritan. We must understand in this context that the Jews and the Samaritans did not like each other. In fact they may have hated them. But in this parable, it was not the priest or the Levite who helped the victim on the road; it was a Samaritan who helped. It was the Samaritan who when out of his comfort zone to show mercy. This is what Jesus asks of us.
Question for Reflection
Do you go out of your way, when it's inconvenient or a hindrance to help those in need?
Lord, give me the courage and strength to answer the call when the opportunity comes your way.
