Deut 30:10-14; Col 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37
For the Slain and Wounded Police Officers of Dallas
“Moved with compassion,” the Samaritan approached the man. He did not cross to the other side like the Levite, but he approached the man, beaten up and left by the roadside by robbers. The Samaritan cared for the man, presumably a Jew. This Samaritan, scholars tell us, was a business man, a man of means, traveling the Jerusalem-Jericho road. He embraced his opposite, a Jew, and he offered mercy, an image of God’s mercy. In today’s second reading from Colossians St. Paul tells us: “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” Christ is the Samaritan who embraces the robbed and beaten man. We proclaim him. So what more can we do? Where can we be the Good Samaritan right here?
Pope Francis shows the way. On his first trip outside Rome, he traveled to an island off the coast of Italy, Lampedusa, to show mercy and compassion for the refugees and migrants from Africa who lost loved ones when an over-filled boat capsized and sank. He wanted to pray also for the dead as well as comfort the grieving. He asked: “Who will cry for these brothers and sisters?” He continues to focus the attention of the world on social problems like immigration and poverty. This week in Rome he met with a group of homeless. And he met with a couple from Wisconsin whose son was killed in Rome. He reminds us: “The culture of well-being, that makes us think of ourselves, that makes us insensitive to the cries of others, that makes us live in soap bubbles …are illusions.” In light of the events in Dallas and around the world, we have few illusions anymore. Pope Francis continually reminds us that we must remember the other and assist in ways in which we can show Christ’s mercy. We here are a rich people. That is, we have been enriched by gifts of education, family, profession and relationships. We are very generous to people who have less than we have. We respond to needy causes in our world like the two mission appeals we have had here already this summer. We also respond to calamities; for example: today, relief for flood victims in West Virginia. Pope Francis asked: “Who will cry for these brothers and sisters?” We answer: We will.
As Saint Ignatius would say, do what you’re doing, age quod agis. As Pope Francis would say, let us ask for this grace: to overcome indifference and to continue to engage in the many outreach activities. We are known to be a generous people. Today we will be generous with our prayers for Dallas. We will be Samaritans of prayer.