Who is my neighbour?

The text in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today from Luke 10:25-37 is familiar as The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke has Jesus address the question of “And who is my neighbour?” I believe Richard Rohr would suggest that this parable illustrates the method of non dual thinking which is such an aid to attempt to draw wisdom from the events of life. I attended a wedding yesterday and even though the famous passage in 1 Corinthians 13 about the nature of love was not a part of the ceremony, the part of Paul’s letter (1 Corinthians 13.10-13)”Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” came to mind as I reflected on the community of “neighbours” who had gathered to celebrate the wedding. In many ways the people who gather at weddings and the stories they tell are living evidence that the “Good Samaritan” of Luke’s Gospel lives among us. Parents, children, friends, partners, cousins and aunts and uncles collectively witness to love, which as Paul proclaimed to the Corinthians is part of our being fully known in the relationship with the Divine. This full knowledge that the Creator has of the creatures is that we are loving and that the “kingdom of God is near” to us. “It is easy to love those who love us”. That is true. The wedding shows that “communities” brought together by their ties to bride and groom can extend their practice of being neighbour to others and from this base can come the hope that we see all people as neighbour.