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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Sunday’s Gospel is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This is a text that we know so well, that there is a danger that familiarity hampers a real listening to the proclamation of the Gospel. St Benedict, whose feast we celebrate on Monday 11^th, speaks of ‘Listening with the ear of the heart.’ This is so much more than hearing, it is more than listening at the level of the mind, it is a listening that brings the Word of God to the very core of our being, the place of love. This Sunday, with a Gospel we know so well, listening at that depth brings so many blessings.

Pope Francis, in his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, uses the Good Samaritan as a model for every interaction – including the international stage. The going out to brothers and sisters, enjoined by the Lord in this parable, is the way forward for the world, he tells us. This may seem so difficult – even in our homes, with those closest to us, it can be hard. Yet we are reminded in this Sunday’s First Reading, from the Book of Deuteronomy, that the law given by God is truly possible, for the Word is IN us.  

This is reflected again when we read the Parable of the Good Samaritan in a slightly different way – seeing ourselves as the one who is in the ditch and the Lord Himself coming to our aid. St Paul expresses this in his hymn at the beginning of the Letter to the Colossians (the Second Reading this Sunday), where he rejoices at the victory Christ has won. We need have no fear, the Lord has rescued us and now we – with the Word Who is Life in our hearts – can go out to our brothers and sisters, carrying out the work the Lord calls us to do in His name.

With every blessing,

+ Richard

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