A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 33)
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – July 11, 2004
“Love Your Neighbor”
Dt 30:10-14 // Col 1:15-20 // Lk 10:25-37
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Tim Montanari’s story, “Saving Melissa” in GUIDEPOSTS magazine (July 2004) is notable in that it shows what it means to be a neighbor to one in need. Tim, a police officer in charge of the vice squad at St. Petersburg, Florida, met Melissa Collora, the sweet little girl he used to babysit, after thirteen years as a crack-addicted prostitute, caught in a drug deal in an alley of a notorious neighborhood. Tim remembered being at the Colloras’ home on steamy summer days when he was 15 or so, playing football in the yard with her brothers. Melissa, about three, would sit on the swing-set clutching her teddy bear, watching them with big brown eyes, so sweet and innocent. When she was eight, Mr. Collora died and her mother remarried. Melissa’s stepfather abused her. In 1993 her mother committed suicide. Melissa went to live with relatives outside New York City, where she discovered crack cocaine and life on the street. Tim, a man of faith who tries to see the best in people, made every effort to help Melissa, to no avail. “That girl’s a lost cause,” the officers in his squad said. “Why do you keep trying?” One day, Melissa was ready for a change and appealed to him for help. Tim’s court testimony on her behalf was instrumental in having Melissa’s imminent ten-year sentence at a state prison commuted to treatment at the Walter Hoving Home in New York. Now Melissa is doing well and recovering. Tim Montanari asserted, “What I did for her wasn’t much, but I think it was the best thing I could have done.”
The Gospel reading on the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), which is set in the context of Jesus’ paschal journey to the cross, underlines an important element of Christian discipleship: love of neighbor. The parable of the Good Samaritan delineates the Christian exigency of active service. Together with the story of the two pious disciples, Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42) on the pre-eminence of listening to the word of Jesus, the parable of the Good Samaritan helps depict Luke’s comprehensive image of discipleship as love of Jesus present in our neighbor (active charity) and in his living Word (contemplative prayer).
Indeed, Christian discipleship is not a matter of intellectual knowledge, but of unmitigated love of Jesus as concretely expressed in service and compassionate acts to our brothers and sisters in need. The way to eternal life is not merely a mental perception of what is written in the law: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (cf. Dt 6:4-5; Lev 19:18) or the ability to verbalize it, but to translate this twofold love command into action.
In Luke’s account, the litigious lawyer who posed the question of eternal life in order to disconcert Jesus failed in his attempt. He then tried to “justify himself” because Jesus had made his poorly motivated question seem so easy. He thus raised the crucial and politically colored question that can be found in Luke alone: “And who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10:29). According to the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoffer: “It is a sort of question you can keep on asking without ever getting an answer … The question What shall I do? was the lawyer’s first attempt to throw dust in his own eyes. The answer was: ‘You know the commandments, do you not? Well, then, put them into practice. You must not ask questions – get on with the job!’ And the final question Who is my neighbor? Is the parting shot of despair (or else of self-confidence); the lawyer is trying to justify his disobedience. The answer is: ‘You are the neighbor. Go along and try to be obedient by loving others.’ Neighborliness is not a quality in other people, it is simply their claim on ourselves. Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbor or not. We must get into action and obey – we must behave like a neighbor to him.”
The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that the concept of “neighbor” is not a matter of blood bonds, nationality, or religious communion. There is no theoretical definition of neighbor or practical limits to those whom we could consider a neighbor. Our “neighbor” is the one to whom we draw near because he or she is in need of our help and evokes our compassion. Harold Buetow, moreover, sees in this thought-provoking parable a new definition of neighbor: “In the Book of Leviticus, the neighbor was one to be loved, such as a countryman. The new definition of neighbor is one who loves.”
Furthermore, Luke’s parable helps us to focus on the figure of Christ, the Good Samaritan par excellence and our ultimate neighbor. According to the authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 6, p. 129: “But insofar as we listen to and meditate on the story, the features of the Lord appear more and more clearly to our eyes. He is the Good Samaritan par excellence, beyond all comparison. No one has been or will ever be so completely the neighbor of each person. He did not encounter them by chance on the road. He voluntarily came to seek them, he, the Word of God who has taken flesh. He not only did everything for them, but he handed himself over for them; he died and rose that they might have everlasting life.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Did we ever ask the Divine Master the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” If yes, in what spirit or attitude did we pose that question?
B. Are we truly neighbors to those in need? Do we respond to them with compassion?
C. Do we trust that Jesus is the Good Samaritan par excellence and our true neighbor?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Jesus Master,
we no longer wish to indulge in the petty question,
“Who is our neighbor?”
But rather, teach us to ask the life-giving question,
“Are we true neighbors to our brothers and sisters in need?”
Fill us with grace, wisdom and strength
that we may dedicate ourselves
to those who have a claim on our kindness and compassion.
You are the Good Samaritan and our true neighbor.
With you living in us and we living in you,
may we have the courage to incarnate your love
as the selfless Good Samaritan
and the ultimate kindly neighbor to those in need.
We love you and adore you, now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Lk 9:23)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray for all of our neighbors in need of love and compassion. Pray for the grace to be a Good Samaritan and a true neighbor.
B. ACTION PLAN: The Walter Hoving Home is a residential, spiritually based rehabilitation center helping women whose lives have been caught up in drug addiction, alcoholism and prostitution. For more information and any help you can give, contact the following:
WALTER HOVING HOME,
P.O. Box 194,
Garrison, NY 10524
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US