One Minute Reflection – 8 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 10:25–37

One Minute Reflection – 8 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 10:25–37 – Monday of the Twenty-seventh week in Ordinary Time, Year B

“Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?”   He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.  ” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”...Luke 10:36-37

REFLECTION – “Jesus brings about an unexpected reversal in the traditional concept of neighbour.   The Samaritan is the neighbour and not the wounded man, as we would have expected.   This means that we must not wait till our neighbour appears along our way, perhaps quite dramatically.   It belongs to us to be ready to notice him, to find him. We are all called to be the neighbour!   The problem of the doctor of the law is reversed. From an abstract and academic problem, it becomes a concrete and living problem.   The question to ask is not “Who is my neighbour?” but “Whose neighbour can I be here and now?…
If one of us were to pose Jesus the question “Who is my neighbour?” what would he answer?   He would certainly remind us that our neighbour is not only our fellow countrymen but also those outside our community, not only Christians but Muslims also, not only Catholics but Protestants also.   But he would immediately add that this is not the most important thing.   The most important thing is not to know who my neighbour is but to see whose neighbour I can be here and now, for whom I can be the Good Samaritan.”…Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa – Preacher to the Papal Household (14 July 2007)

PRAYER – Lord God and Father, who entrusted the earth to men and each to the other, as one family of man, give us the grace this day, to see Your Face in our neighbour and to seek all who need our help.   Grant us the grace to work faithfully for Your glory and for our neighbour’s good.   May the prayers of St Hugh Canefro who worked tirelessly for his neighbour be a help to us all and may Mary our Holy Mother, keep us ever in her guiding care.   We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.