15th Sunday in the ordinary time of the year C
Theme: Are you a neighbour?
On this 15th Sunday in the ordinary time of the year C, Jesus points out the fact that our self-love should be extended to all those who encounter us in our journey of life. Our ability to achieve this in our life will place us on the level of the Samaritan and a good neighbour. The love for the self is useless when it begins and ends with us and our loved ones. It should go beyond our circle and be more inclusive, in such a way that all those who encounter us enjoy our love and selflessness. In the gospel of today, the priest and the Levite saw the man who was attacked, and because of one reason or the other did not attend to him. But the Samaritan showed him love by stopping and attending to his situation, and was willing to give more on his way back. The action of the Samaritan is profound and worthy of emulation by all of us who go by the name Christians. It should be our desire to be a good neighbour, just like the Samaritan Jesus talked about in today’s gospel.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the world in which we live today are in need of true neighbours like the Samaritan. Men and women who go beyond boundaries to improve and better the lives of people they do not even know. It may be easy to do things for ourselves and those around us, but it takes Grace and extra effort to do what the Samaritan did. Showing love and being generous to people you do not even know, but are in need of help. This is why the theme for our reflection today is, are you a neighbour? As children of God and Christians, we are all called to be good neighbours in everything that we do in our daily life. The more we are able to break the barriers that keep us away from good neighbours, the better Christians we will be and the closer we will get to God. This is realisable if we are able to break the barrier of race, ethnicity, colour and status; today’s gospel encourages us to beyond all these challenges in our daily life.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, if we truly desire to be true neighbours, then we have to take seriously the admonition of Moses from the Book of Deuteronomy in today’s 1st reading. We are encouraged to take the word of God serious in our life and put them into practice. The more we allow God’s word to challenge us, the better children of God and Christians we will become. Sometimes, it’s as if we are not capable of living the Word of God in our life, but at such moments we must learn to draw strength from the life of men and women in the scriptures who lived in a way that was pleasing to God. It simply means that with the grace of God and our personal effort, we are capable of becoming good neighbours like the Samaritan Jesus talked about in today’s gospel.
It is my prayer on this 15th Sunday of the year that we will be counted among the good neighbours on the last day. May almighty God bless you, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.