The Fifteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2019
Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the Good
Samaritan is a foundational source that helps us resolve today’s moral dilemmas
because it has the potential to reshape our attitudes towards those in need. Jesus
gave this parable in response to two questions: (1.) What must I do to inherit
eternal life? And (2.) Who is my neighbor? This scripture passage provides insights
from Jesus who links care for neighbor to our pursuit of salvation. We are
given the command: Go and do likewise. As we reflect upon the implications of
this teaching, we have to consider how we classify people, and we ask
ourselves, “Who do I put in the inside of my circle, and who do I exclude?”
We know the story. A priest,
followed by a Levite, walk past a robbed, injured Jewish man who was leaving Jerusalem
for Jericho. Each has his motivation for not getting involved, and we can understand
the constraints that are put upon one’s position and status. It takes a
foreigner, a Samaritan, who is not fully bound by Jewish law and teachings, to
care for a man left for dead. He goes above and beyond in his care for the man
because he pays for his hospitalization when he does not know if the man will
survive. This foreigner treated the man with mercy, and we are told we are to
go and do likewise.
Who was neighbor to the robber’s
victim? The one who did mercy. How is mercy defined? It is to enter into the
chaos of another’s life. According to Jesus, what state are we in if we do not
provide mercy? A sinful state. We have sinned because Jesus defines sin as
failing to even bother to care for another person. This even exists in the Law
given by Moses in the First Reading because we have a fundamental choice to
make – to choose life or to choose a different path. Our choices to see the
person in need as our neighbor is fundamental to our moral life.
We have to remember that our
moral life depends upon our initial thoughts. We are responsible for creating
our thoughts, which can be loving or unloving. If we produce an initial loving
thought, then it is likely that we will take care of those in need. Our
thoughts produce our attitudes and sin arises from our attitudes. If our attitudes
reveal our compassion for another person, our speech and then our actions flow
from this loving process and we are likely to help the one in need. If my
initial thoughts are: This man is hurt and is in need, and I want to help, then
the man will be cared for. If my initial thoughts are: I think I see a man in a
ditch but I don’t know him, I’ll cross to the other side and I won’t see that
he is in pain, then I will not bother to care for him.
Of course, there are circumstances
that affect how we can respond because, and it gets complicated especially when
the one in need is an estranged family member or one who has mental health
issues, addictions, co-dependency, or other family history factors. It gets
exponentially more complicated when we view our moral responsibility to our
neighbor in the national debates about immigration, health-care, equal rights, acceptance
of those who are marginalized, or the challenges to a wide-ranging consistent
ethic of life platform. It gets even more complicated in our international decisions
on building up economies of fragile governments, so citizens are not displaced,
on nuclear arms stability, humanitarian mission, and the care for our common
home – our environment. The question about ‘who is my neighbor’ has become more
nuanced and complicated since the time of Jesus, but the eternal question
remains.
In each of these situations, ask
yourself this question, “Who is my neighbor?” What are my initial thoughts and
attitudes as I see my brothers or sisters in need? Do I even see them? Am I
ready to enter into the chaos of their lives as an act of my faith, as an act
of mercy? To sin is to even bother to enter into the chaos of another person. The
scribe answered Jesus: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your
neighbor of yourself.” Who is my neighbor? The one who does mercy. Go and do
likewise.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First
Reading:
Monday: (Exodus 1) A new king, who knew nothing of
Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous
and powerful the people of the children of Israel are growing, more so than we
ourselves!
Tuesday: (Exodus 2) A certain man of the house of Levi
married a Levite woman, who conceived and bore a son. When she could hide him
no longer, she took a papyrus basket, and putting the child in it, placed it
among the reeds on the river bank.
Wednesday: (Exodus 3) There an angel of the Lord appeared
to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to
see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed.
Thursday: (Exodus 3) When I go to the children of Israel
and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me,
'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?" God replied, "I am who
am."
Friday (Exodus 11) Although Moses and Aaron performed
various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the Lord made Pharaoh obstinate, and he
would not let the children of Israel leave his land.
Saturday (Exodus 12) The children of Israel set out from
Rameses for Succoth. A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them, besides
their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds. Since the dough they had
brought out of Egypt was not leavened, they baked it into unleavened loaves.
They had rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunity even to prepare food for
the journey.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 10) I have come to bring not peace but
the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against
her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies
will be those of his household.
Tuesday: (Matthew 11) For if the mighty deeds done in
your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I
tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of
judgment than for you.
Wednesday (Matthew 11) I give praise to you, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise
and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.
Thursday (Matthew 11) Come to me, all you who labor and
are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.
Friday (Matthew 12) "See, your disciples are doing
what is unlawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you
not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went
into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his
companions but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Saturday (Matthew 12) The Pharisees went out and took
counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he
withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all.
Saints of the Week
July 14: Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) was the daughter of a Christian
Algonquin mother and a non-Christian Mohawk chief. As a child, she contracted
smallpox and was blinded and severely disfigured by it. She was baptized on
Easter Sunday 1767 by Jesuit missionaries and was named after Catherine of
Siena. She kept a strong devotion to the Eucharist and cared for the sick. She
is named "the Lily of the Mohawks."
July 15: Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor (1221-1273), was given his name by
Francis of Assisi to mean "Good Fortune" after he was cured of
serious childhood illnesses. He joined the Franciscans at age 20 and studied at
the University of Paris. Aquinas became his good friend. Bonaventure was
appointed minister general of the Franciscans and was made a cardinal. He
participated in the ecumenical council at Lyons to reunite the Greek and Latin
rites. Aquinas died on the way to the council.
July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patronal feast of the Carmelites.
The day commemorates the day Simon Stock was given a brown scapular by Mary in
1251. In the 12th century, Western hermits settled on Mount Carmel overlooking
the plain of Galilee just as Elijah did. These hermits built a chapel to Mary
in the 13th century and began a life of solitary prayer.
July 18: Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614), began his youthful life as a
soldier where he squandered away his father's inheritance through gambling. He
was cared for by Capuchins but was unable to join them because of a leg
ailment. He cared for the sick in hospitals that were deplorable. He founded an
order that would care for the sick and dying and for soldiers injured in
combat.
July 20: Apollinaris, bishop and martyr (1st century) was chosen directly by
Peter to take care of souls in Ravenna. He lived through the two emperors whose
administrations exiled and tortured him, though he was faithful to his
evangelizing work to his death.
This Week in Jesuit History
·
Jul
14, 1523. Ignatius departs from Venice on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
·
Jul
15, 1570. At Avila, St Teresa had a vision of Blessed Ignatius de Azevedo and
his companions ascending to heaven. This occurred at the very time of their
martyrdom.
·
Jul
16, 1766. The death of Giusuppe Castiglione, painter and missionary to China.
They paid him a tribute and gave him a state funeral in Peking (Beijing).
·
Jul
17, 1581. Edmund Campion was arrested in England.
·
Jul
18, 1973. The death of Fr. Eugene P Murphy. Under his direction the Sacred
Heart Hour, which was introduced by Saint Louis University in 1939 on its radio
station [WEW], became a nationwide favorite.
·
Jul
19, 1767. At Naples, Prime Minister Tannic, deprived the Jesuits of the
spiritual care of the prisoners, a ministry that they had nobly discharged for
158 years.
·
Jul
20, 1944. An abortive plot against Adolf Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg and
his allies resulted in the arrest of Fr. Alfred Delp.
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