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This is a story of how we are supposed to manifest our love.
Our Lord praised the lawyer for answering correctly his own question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”. His answer was to love God and to love one’s neighbor. But he further asked: “who is my neighbor?” Our Lord then narrated the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
I would like to share my reflection on this parable.
The parable tells us “whom” to love and “how” to love.
“Whom” to love is our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is one in need of help. This someone is actually anyone we encounter in life, regardless of who he is, whether a friend, a stranger, or an enemy. It means, therefore, that we cannot choose whom to love. We have to love anyone who comes our way who is in need of help. It means we cannot love in a vacuum. We have to love in a concrete situation. We cannot love people who have already gone ahead of us, or people who will come after us. We can only love those we are living with here and now.
“How” to love? Love is a decision. To enable us to make a decision God gave us the gift of “Freedom”. Freedom is a power which one has to exercise to choose what is good and avoid what it evil. It is not a license to do whatever one wants to do, regardless of the consequences. It is a gift that enables us to love. For love is something that can be done or given only with a free will. When one loves, he has to make a decision to do what he believes is good under the circumstances, taking into account whatever resources he has and what the particular person is in need of.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the person in need of help was actually a stranger or even an enemy. Two persons, a priest and a Levite, who saw the person lying half dead just passed by without doing anything. The Samaritan, however, “moved by compassion, went over to him, treated his wounds with oil and wine and wrapped them with bandages. Then he put him on his own animal and brought him to an inn where he took care of him.” The next day as he had to leave, “he gave two silver coins to the inn-keeper and said to him: ‘Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I come back’.
After narrating this story, our Lord then asked the lawyer: “Which of the three, do you think, made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” “The teacher of the Law answered: ‘the one who had mercy on him’. And Jesus said: “Go then and do the same.”
This parable reminds me of the importance of loving everyone in need who comes my way, without making any discrimination, and that the way to love is to use whatever resources I have to help the person in his particular need. This, indeed, is a tall order. It requires an all-out giving of time, talents and treasures to help the one in need who comes our way. This, I believe, is how God wants us to love in order to “become as perfect as He is” (Matt.5:48)
March 21, 2010
This is a story of how we are supposed to manifest our love.
Our Lord praised the lawyer for answering correctly his own question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”. His answer was to love God and to love one’s neighbor. But he further asked: “who is my neighbor?” Our Lord then narrated the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
I would like to share my reflection on this parable.
The parable tells us “whom” to love and “how” to love.
“Whom” to love is our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is one in need of help. This someone is actually anyone we encounter in life, regardless of who he is, whether a friend, a stranger, or an enemy. It means, therefore, that we cannot choose whom to love. We have to love anyone who comes our way who is in need of help. It means we cannot love in a vacuum. We have to love in a concrete situation. We cannot love people who have already gone ahead of us, or people who will come after us. We can only love those we are living with here and now.
“How” to love? Love is a decision. To enable us to make a decision God gave us the gift of “Freedom”. Freedom is a power which one has to exercise to choose what is good and avoid what it evil. It is not a license to do whatever one wants to do, regardless of the consequences. It is a gift that enables us to love. For love is something that can be done or given only with a free will. When one loves, he has to make a decision to do what he believes is good under the circumstances, taking into account whatever resources he has and what the particular person is in need of.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the person in need of help was actually a stranger or even an enemy. Two persons, a priest and a Levite, who saw the person lying half dead just passed by without doing anything. The Samaritan, however, “moved by compassion, went over to him, treated his wounds with oil and wine and wrapped them with bandages. Then he put him on his own animal and brought him to an inn where he took care of him.” The next day as he had to leave, “he gave two silver coins to the inn-keeper and said to him: ‘Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I come back’.
After narrating this story, our Lord then asked the lawyer: “Which of the three, do you think, made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” “The teacher of the Law answered: ‘the one who had mercy on him’. And Jesus said: “Go then and do the same.”
This parable reminds me of the importance of loving everyone in need who comes my way, without making any discrimination, and that the way to love is to use whatever resources I have to help the person in his particular need. This, indeed, is a tall order. It requires an all-out giving of time, talents and treasures to help the one in need who comes our way. This, I believe, is how God wants us to love in order to “become as perfect as He is” (Matt.5:48)
by: Salvador 'Buddy' Caguranganb
March 21, 2010
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