Tag Archives: spiritual

Parable of the Good Samaritan

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Let us reason together.

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 neighbor?” 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 neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:25-37.

“what must I do to inherit eternal life?” That is our question as well, maybe our most important question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? That question is raised several times in scripture and we should pay special attention whenever it appears. Therefore, let us reason together.

The gospel says that an attorney with an attitude stood up to test him. That is never a good idea. But Jesus uses the opportunity to teach a lesson. He reads the man’s heart and says to the man you already know the answer. The Lawyer quotes Deuteronomy where Moses summarizes the Ten Commandments. But Jesus adds something that has been missing from the law since shortly after Moses himself. He adds love. The first of the commandments show us how to love God and the later ones show us how to love one another.

The emphasis is as it was originally been designed; it is now on love. In fact he ties love of God and love of neighbor together. To you and me it means that not only must we love that person that we share the sign of peace but also with that person who cuts us off in the parking lot in order to beat us to dinner.

But it gets even worse. The keeper of the law then goes on to ask who constitutes his neighbor causing Jesus to tell us a parable in which the heroine is a Samaritan. Therefore, we should seek to understand who a Samaritan is at least in relation to the Jews.

A short summary of Jewish history would start with the Promised Land around 1250 BC. King Saul is followed by King David who is followed by King Solomon. King Solomon dies approximately 930 BC. His son promises to raise the already heavy tax burden which causes a rebellion which divides the 12 tribes. The northern tribes will from there be known as Israel while the lower tribe will be called the Jews. The northern tribes include a region known as Samaria. In 722 BC the Assyrians will capture the area and deport the men and then bring other conquered peoples into the land to marry the women left behind. This produced and mixed race of people and religious confusion.

This impure blood line together with a mixture of faith caused hatred between the two groups. This hatred at the time of Jesus was more than 700 years old. The lawyer had such a hatred that he would not even say that the Samaritan was a good guy. He simply said that it was the one who was merciful.

You and I cannot even comprehend hating some one that long as we have not even been a country for more than a few hundred years. But the message of the gospel is that we must love that person that we could hate the most.

There is a second lesson. I would like to decode some of the story and then let you see if you can determine the second lesson yourself. First, with most parable stories it should be noted that one of the characters is that of Jesus and one of the characters is you and I. lets first determine who Jesus is. How many of you would think that Jesus is the Good Samaritan. You would be correct of course. However, there is another possibility. Anyone wish to guess. The man who was abused is described as having been “beaten, stripped and left for dead. That describes Jesus during the passion. We should remember that he was both the sacrifice and the one offering the sacrifice. We should note that no one would think that the robbers are identified as God. We know that God is not the author of evil even though he sometimes permits evil to happen to us so that he can turn it into a blessing.

Next we see that the Samaritan washes the man’s wounds with water and oil and wine. What does that remind you of? Think about that one. What does that remind you of? Those are the elements of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. These represent the sacraments of initiation where we enter the church.

Next we find that the victim is taken to and Inn. What does this represent? Why do we need a hotel in the Old Testament time? People traveled in caravans or large groups with their own bedding.

In order to understand what an Inn was we need to understand that our system of law enforcement is different today that it was then. A person who resided in Jerusalem was protected by the laws and security of the city of Jerusalem. Travelers would occasionally stay at an inn because it provided security for them and their flocks. They would pay for such services. We would call these as a house of sanctuary. Actually you are more familiar with this than you realize. While I am no linguist I am told that the word for sanctuary in either Greek or Latin is “parish”. Here we have another clue.

At the beginning I told you that one of the characters of the story represents you and me. Well I am going to shorten this by telling you that you and I are the inn keeper..

Do you see a theme that has significance to you and me?

Let us reason together. Jesus tells us first he washed him in the sacraments of water, oil and wine. Then he took his to the parish and told the inn keeper to take care of him and that some day he would return and make things right with the inn keeper. Further, he says that someday he will return to settle accounts.

If Jesus sends people in need to the Church what are we supposed to do with them? Administer the sacraments and then love on them. Love them to physical and spiritual health; care for one another, even the ones that we may be inclined to hate.

One Random Act of Kindness Can Change to World

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One Random Act of Kindness Can Change to World

More than 25 years ago I heard a story that had a profound effect on my life. It was a story told by a professional story teller. His name you will remember as Mr. Paul Harvey.

The story takes place in a small town in the Midwest during the depression years. I like the think that it may have one of the small towns around where Mr. Harvey grew up and that he may have known the characters personally.

It seems that an old gentleman came to a new town and opened a new general store. Most of the townspeople would probably admit that the new guy had a better selection of merchandise and that his prices were a little better but they preferred to shop at the original store. After all this was an outsider and if you’ve ever lived in a small town then you know how cruel they can be to outsiders. In addition, he was different, he was Jewish.

There was lots of talk about Jewish people in those days. It was the depression era and many had no money and maybe there was some resentment toward the rich and maybe the Jewish people were thought to be the rich.

One fall afternoon, the old shopkeeper stood in his doorway looking down the street. There wasn’t much business because of the local attitude and the fact that no one had any money. It was not a cold fall day but it was too cool for one of the two boys walking down the street to be bare footed. So he called them to his store and wouldn’t let them leave until the one boy had found some new shoes and warm socks. The boy kept saying that he had no money. Finally the old shopkeeper told him that he should keep the shoes and if someday he had money he could pay him, if not then that was ok too but no one should go through a cold winter without shoes. So the boys left and we don’t hear anymore about the old shopkeeper.

But we see the boys again a few years later. They are aboard a troop carrier moving north through Italy toward the German lines. It is during World War II. At one point the caravan stopped and the men got out stretching their legs. Next to the road was an old church with an old priest and several nuns. They were supervising a lot of young kids. One of the boys approached the priest and found out that these kids had been hidden from the Nazis because they were Jewish. Further, they no longer knew where their parents were and to make matters worse, there was no more food to give them.

About that time the horn sounded and all the men reloaded the truck and left. They did not go far before they stopped for the night. But one of the boys could not sleep. Finally he woke his friend and convinced him to help. They quietly snuck out of camp; stole a truck and broke into supply where they loaded the truck with food. Mr. Harvey in his usual fashion detailed how many hundreds of pounds of this and that that they loaded.

Then the boys were discovered and arrested. They were in a lot of trouble. They could be sentenced to death for their crimes but they managed to talk the military into helping them to deliver the food and to keep the priest supplied. Further, they talked the military into helping to locate the parents. As they were unloading the truck the old priest blessed the young man saying that he had the love of God within him. But the young man said in response; “Do not thank me but instead thank the old Jewish gentleman back home who taught me the true meaning of love.

Sometimes an opportunity comes along where we can change the lives of others. This is the true meaning of humility and love; thinking of someone other than ourselves. The old Jewish shopkeeper never knew what impact his act of kindness accomplished but a distant cousin in heaven knows and remembers all our acts; good and bad. One random act of kindness helped an entire group of homeless children. You and I might consider performing one random act of kindness. We too may never know the implications of our actions but we can know that God will use our kindness to change the world if we would only cooperate with him.

What would happen if we convenience those at our Church to do this on a regular basis? With happen that the Church would develop a reputation? Certainly, it would. Would it change your life or mine? Yes, it would.

What would happen if other churches then began to practice this and then maybe the town? Would it change the hearts of the people? Yes it would. It would change the world.

The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic

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The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic- Part 1

By Matthew Kelly

 

iStock_000009018744XSmallWhile this book is addressed to Roman Catholics it is just as applicable to all the faithful. Every pastor would profit from reading this book. I know of one Catholic Pastor who is requiring his entire staff to study and discuss these concepts and I suspect that he will set up classes the introduce these practices to his congregation. Even I am considering how I might share this with my family and friends.

Most everyone is familiar with the Pareto Principle. It states that roughly 80 percent of effects come from 20 percent of causes. In other words, 80 percent of your business is produced by 20 percent of your customers. The author, familiar with this principle, begins the book with the question. “Does this apply to other aspects of life?” In other words, what percent of the people of the parish donate 80 percent of the money and what percent of the people donate 80 percent of the time to parish ministries?

After an investigation he found that 6.8 percent of the people donate 80 percent of the money to the parish. Further, 6.4 percent of the people contribute 80 percent of the hours to the Church. In addition, he found that there was an 84 percent overlap between the two. It is worse than the underlying principle of the 80/20 rule. Here roughly 7 percent do it all. While it may not at first appear so, this is actually good news.

The Catholic Church around the world every single day feeds more people, houses more people, clothes more people, cares for more sick, visits more prisoners and educates more students than any other institution on the planet and they do most of it with only 7 percent of those who are Catholic. Look at how much room there is to grow.

Look at what could happen if it could be raised from 7% to 14% or 21%. What could we do if we found a way to double the involvement and contributions from today over the next seven years? That is just one percent for each of the next seven years. For a parish with 100 families that is just an increase of only one per year. These are pretty modest goals, surely attainable.

The only question is how we do that. If only there was a way to determine what those seven percent had in common and that the ninety-three percent was lacking. Well,…… this is just what the author has researched. Want to know what the four signs of a dynamic catholic would include. I do not wish to give away the ending. You must read the book and then we will talk about it.