FEASTING ON THE WORD
"If you meditate on the Scriptures it will appear to you in its brilliant splendor." ―St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)Deuteronomy 30:10-14 | Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 | Colossians 1:15-20 | Luke 10:25-37 The readings for this weekend celebrate the nearness of the Lord to us when we obey his commands. Created through Jesus and for Jesus, he is at the center of our life and we are drawn ever closer to him. Not only that. We are also called to have compassion like the Lord and be of service to all in need. Young Edward was playing in the yard. Suddenly the voice of the his father rang out from the porch, “Edward, obey me instantly! Drop to your stomach!” Immediately the youngster did as his father commanded. “Now crawl toward me as fast as you can!” Edward obeyed. “Stand up and run to me!” The boy responded unquestioningly and ran to his father’s arms. As the young boy turned to look at the tree by which he had been playing, he saw a large deadly snake hanging from one of the branches! At the first command of his father, Edward could have hesitated and asked, “Why do you want me to do that?” Or he could have casually replied, “In a minute.” But his instant obedience without questioning saved his life! In our First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses is completing his presentation of all the laws, decrees, and customs which the people of Israel are bound, covenanted, to observe. These laws are not God’s arbitrary and abstract decrees intended to burden the people. Moses insists that God’s commands are neither too remote nor too hard to follow. When they fulfill these, then the Lord will delight in the resulting prosperity of their fields, their cattle, and their fruitful bodies. Richard was taking a class in photography. For one assignment, he chose Rachel, his 6-year-old daughter, as his subject and asked her to sit on a serene hillside. Close by was a mango tree in full bloom. Richard just couldn't resist. He gave the tree a prominent place in the picture. He was surprised when his instructor pointed out a problem with the photo. The mango tree distracted from him primary focus, the little girl. "See how it catches the eye," the instructor said. "It competes with your subject. You need to choose one subject and leave the other out." This observation applies to more than good photography skills. We must center our attention only on Jesus. Like amateur photographers, we are often attracted to the "mango trees in full bloom." We pay more attention to our hobbies, friends, family, or work. Christ commands our attention because "He is before all things and in him all things hold together…” The letter of the apostle Paul to the Colossians, which is our second lesson today, teaches us that Jesus holds creation together. The fabric of the universe, the stuff of our bodies, this building, the ground on which we stand, its all held together by Jesus, its all sustained by Jesus. If Jesus wasn’t doing that, the universe would disintegrate. It would cease to exist. We must never forget that the person of Jesus stands at the center of our lives. That may mean relegating something we deem to be important to the background or cropping it out of the picture altogether. When you put Jesus in the center of your life, He lifts you up, holds your world together, supplies your needs and brings incomparable fulfillment. All our pursuits, material and spiritual, must be related to him. In him, we find that spiritual connection to God that eventually gives us the greatest success imaginable – Eternal Life. Leonides had told his son Joel he would send him to sleep in the backyard with only bread and water for his supper if he comes home late from school. Well, Joel disobeyed and did not come home straight after school. He spent time at the shops with friends and went home past midnight. Leonides sent him to the backyard. But the father couldn’t eat. He had his son on his mind and his heart. His wife Herminia said, “I know what you are thinking. But you must not bring the boy from the backyard. It would cause him to disobey again. He would have no respect for your word. You must not cheapen your relation as his father by failing to keep your word." Leonides replied, "You are right. I will not break my promise. But he is so lonely out there." Moved with great compassion, Leonides went to the backyard, ate bread and water with his son, and when the child went to sleep on the hard concrete floor, his father’s arm was his pillow. As the Gospel opens, there is a discussion between Jesus and a scholar of the law as to a basic summation of the law. The scholar quotes the Shema, a summary of the law known to every Jew. Notice how often the word “all” occurs. When it comes to love, the requirement is not to give what is reasonable, to give a little, or perhaps to give a tithe. The call is to give God all our heart, all our mind, all our being, and all our strength, and to love our neighbor as though he or she were our very self. Using the story of the generosity-gifted Samaritan who helps a wounded Jewish man, Jesus gave a new meaning to holiness which is to show mercy to our neighbor. The story clarifies that to gain eternal life one must love one’s neighbor. But who is our neighbor? Simply put, our neighbor is anyone who has a need which we are able to meet. There is a very important phrase that must not be missed, for it gives the key to the Samaritan’s actions: “… [he] was moved with compassion …” The thing that makes the Samaritan different from priest and the Levite is his rule-breaking compassion. A heart that's moved by compassion cannot sit idly by while someone suffers a need. He broke the rule of self preservation to risk himself by saving a beaten stranger on the Jericho Road, also known as the “bloody pass”. The Samaritan bandages the stranger's wounds, takes him to an inn, cares for him, and leaves money with the innkeeper to continue the care. The biggest rule breaker of them all is God, Himself. In His plan to save mankind He turned the universe upside down. The master became the servant. The offended became the concilater. The beloved became the forsaken. He did all these because he was moved with great compassion for us. We live according to the rules of human nature, the dictates of society, the truisms of prejudice, and the expectations of others. God, however, is looking for those who want to be compassionate rule-breakers like Himself. He wants us to think like Him, respond like Him, and love like Him.
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About JeffJeff Jacinto, PhD, DHum Archives
March 2024
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