And Who Is My Neighbor?
the parable of the good Samaritan
Announcements for July 9, 2022:
If you need anything at all, please be in touch with me.
Join us for Adoration accompanied by praise and worship music on Friday, July 15th from 7:00pm to 8:00pm in the church.
The Feast of OLMC marking the 175th Anniversary of our parish will be celebrated next Sunday. Bishop Sweeney will join us for the 11:00am Mass, with our potluck lunch immediately after. Come later in the day for the procession followed by fun and games at the field of School Street School.
Requests for next year's Mass intentions should be submitted this month. You can find forms in the church narthex and the parish office or submit requests online.
This is the final week to sign up for vacation bible school at OLMC. Registration forms for the program, which runs during the week of July 18th, are available in the church narthex or the parish office.
Visit the OLMC Parishioner Portal for all of our recent announcements.
Dear Saints,
In our Gospel passage this weekend, we hear the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Over the course of 2,000 years, Jesus' story has completely rewritten common expectations around the word Samaritan (from hated foreigner to helpful stranger). Our contention as Christians is that his parable has the capacity to transform lives today.
If we want to understand the story, we first have to hear it in its context. The setup here is critical. When Jesus is confronted by a scholar of the law with a question about inheriting eternal life, we have to get at least two things straight: 1. What is he really asking, and 2. Why is he asking it?
1. What is he asking? In my estimation, the lawyer's question is best translated as, Teacher, what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age? The idea is that God's rule will one day be established on earth, and that this man is eager to occupy a place of distinction when that state of affairs comes to be.
2. Why is he asking it? The lawyer's question is not merely a matter of personal ambition. With his follow up question, And who is my neighbor?, we see that the underlying confrontation is about Jesus' view of Israel's place in God's plan. Does Jesus hold that Israel is God's privileged people or does he think Israel is irrelevant in advancing God's purposes?
Jesus' answer doesn't exactly line up with the lawyer's question. The Jewish scholar of the law wants to know who his neighbor is, but Jesus asks who was neighbor to the half-dead Jew in the road.
In a word, Jesus is exhorting Israel to be Israel at last, and nothing short of a revolution - repentance - will get them there. Rather than reflecting the God of radical self gift, Jesus' adversaries are hell-bent on confrontation with Samaritans, Romans, and pagans of every sort. Will they now heed Jesus' urgent call to go the way of peace, or will they themselves incur God's rightful judgment and suffer the fate of the violent?
Jesus is Israel in the flesh, and as such he takes center stage in God's unfolding drama. The Israel of God (those who follow Jesus as Lord, members of his very own Body) does indeed occupy a place of distinction in the plan of God. Rather than our being over and against the world, though, we are called to be a people in and for the world, embodying God's generous love for everyone he entrusts to our care.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
PS July 17th. Be there or be square. Squarer than square, even.
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Excerpt from The Rossano Gospels
Byzantium, 6th Century