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Fifteenth Sunday in OT C2025Deuteron. 30: 10-14; Colossians 1: 15-20; Luke 10: 25-37The gospel of this morning talks about the parable of the Samaritan, we sometimes call the “Good Samaritan.” In the parables, our Lord gives us another perspective on things, peoples or situations. We are very often fixated on a certain rigid and closed way of seeing things. Sometimes we are blinded and one-sided by our prejudices and biases. In the parable our Lord is inviting us to open our eyes, change our perspective and look at things from another point of view. At the outset we have a doctor of the Law, who never needs to change his perspective, because he is concentrated on himself and does not notice the others. That is what prompts his question to our Lord: “Who is my neighbor?” His question on “eternal life” is a fake one because he naturally knows what the Law recommends. Therefore, the most important question is not “Who loves me?” but rather “Whom have I loved?” The first question is that we ask when we sit comfortably in our couches and enjoy life. The second question is that drives us to set out on the road and do something for someone in need. In the parable, the road goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. This is a difficult road where there are countless dangers. The man who adventured on that road was attacked, beaten, robbed and left half dead. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is the symbol of negative experience of life, of what happens to us when situations, people, sometimes even those we have trusted, take everything from us and leave us in the middle of the road. However, life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters, we emerge for what we truly are. We find ourselves in front of others, faced with their fragility and weakness, and we decide what to do: to take care of them and help or to pretend it is all right and nothing is wrong. For the priest and Levite who passed by that same road, it was all right and nothing was wrong. The priest and the Levite are people who serve in the temple of Jerusalem and live in the sacred space. Sometimes we resemble them by our attachment to the religious rules and the sacred space. And yet, the practice of worship does not automatically lead to being compassionate. Is not true that before being a religious matter, compassion is a matter of humanity? Yes, before being believers, we are called to be human. If we fail to be human, even religious, we will never do good to others in need. Let me say more about the priest and the Levite. I imagine that the priest and the Levite for having stayed a long time in Jerusalem are in hurry to return home. They do not have time to lose on the road. I wonder if their haste is not what is also present in our own lives. Is not that which sometimes prevents us from feeling compassion? Those who think that their own journey must take precedence over anything else are not willing to stop on the road for another. But here comes someone who is actually able to stop: he is a Samaritan, that is, a pagan. This Samaritan simply stops because he is a man faced with another man in need of help. There is nothing he can do than to put himself in the shoes of the man half-dead on the road. He is not interested in knowing from where he was, who he was, or what the color of his skin was. Those are questions that prevent being compassionate and which people raise when they do not want to live in solidarity with others. Compassion, indeed, is expressed through practical gestures of solidarity and love. The Samaritan approaches the wounded man, because if you want to help someone, you cannot keep distance from him. On the contrary, you have to get involved, get dirty and sometimes touch the suffering with one’s hands. The wounded man on the road represents each one of us when we are crushed by difficulties and challenges of life. When we are in such a situation our Lord Jesus stops by us and takes care of us. He is the Good Samaritan who heals our wounds and restores our hope. May his compassion toward us lead us to be compassionate towards others in need! Let us ask him to help us grow in humanity, so that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion. May he give us the grace to have the same feelings as him! Amen. (Homily built with the help of the Catechesis given by Pope Leo XIV on the Audience of May 28, 2025.
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