The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate our actions to include all people as neighbours for whom Jesus calls us to service.
A Franciscan Day
The reading from the Prophet Jonah details how he tries to run away from God.
* [1:1] Jonah, son of Amittai: a prophet of this name lived at the time of Jeroboam II (786–746 B.C.).1
The response from the Book of Jonah is a Psalm of Thanksgiving.
* [2:3–10] These verses, which may have originally been an independent composition, are a typical example of a song of thanksgiving, a common psalm genre (e.g., Ps 116; Is 38:9–20). Such a song is relevant here, since Jonah has not drowned, and the imagery of vv. 4, 6 is appropriate.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus presents the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
* [10:25–37] In response to a question from a Jewish legal expert about inheriting eternal life, Jesus illustrates the superiority of love over legalism through the story of the good Samaritan. The law of love proclaimed in the “Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:27–36) is exemplified by one whom the legal expert would have considered ritually impure (see Jn 4:9). Moreover, the identity of the “neighbor” requested by the legal expert (Lk 10:29) turns out to be a Samaritan, the enemy of the Jew (see note on Lk 9:52).3
Edward Morse comments that today’s gospel continues this theme of God’s mercy. The lesson from the Samaritan’s example likely challenged the scholar, who might have preferred the neighbor concept to be illustrated by scholars inviting their smart friends over for a Torah study! That might be a good thing – but it would not convey such a strong message about extending mercy to those who are quite different from us, not to mention the reality that others we might not think too much of may be better at showing mercy than we are.
As an academic, I can relate to the scholar’s discomfort. We like to emphasize our strengths that coincide with giftedness that comes from God. But sometimes Jesus asks us to embrace our weaknesses to follow him. To “go and do likewise” is going to be tough for many of us. Yet we know from this and other teaching that showing mercy is the path to receiving mercy, which we all need. Like Jonah, we might prefer another path, but perhaps the Lord will keep working our life circumstances to bring us more encounters that help us learn to execute this simple mission.4
Don Schwager quotes “God desires to be our neighbor,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God our Lord wished to be called our neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by the robbers. The prophet said in prayer, 'As a neighbor and as one's own brother, so did I please' (Psalm 34:14 ). Since the divine nature is far superior and above our human nature, the command by which we are to love God is distinct from our love of our neighbor. He shows mercy to us because of his own goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God's goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy him. (excerpt from CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 33)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 10:25-37 comments that Jesus took this opportunity to tell a parable to illustrate that his command to love has no limits. Loving your neighbor includes taking care of a stranger. It includes helping someone you think of as an enemy. It includes risking yourself for someone caught on the “margins.”
That’s why Jesus tells us how far we should go in order to follow his law of love. But how do we do that? How do we imitate the good Samaritan? By paying attention to the people “at the side of the road.” We can begin with the people right in front of us. Instead of passing over them, we can be sensitive to their needs—even the ones who bother us or drain our patience. If we can do just that, we’ll begin to experience the Spirit expanding our hearts.6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the story of Jonah as perhaps a parable about the Babylonian Empire and the need to accept Gentiles after the Exile. The Great Commandment quoted in Luke adds “mind” (conscience?) to heart, soul, and strength. Friar Jude reminds us of the quality of the encounters of St. Francis of Assisi with the people he met.
Franciscan media comments that Francis of Assisi was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News. He decided in favor of the latter, but always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.
Francis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like. He recognized creation as another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979, he was named patron of ecology. He did great penance—apologizing to “Brother Body” later in life—that he might be totally disciplined for the will of God. Francis’ poverty had a sister, Humility, by which he meant total dependence on the good God. But all this was, as it were, preliminary to the heart of his spirituality: living the gospel life, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly expressed in the Eucharist.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, continues exploring Francis of Assisi’s insights, pointing us beyond the “bird bath” spirituality for which Francis is too often known. Francis of Assisi knew that the finite manifests the infinite, and the physical is the doorway to the spiritual. If we can accept this foundational principle we call “incarnation,” then all we need is right here and right now—in this world.
Franciscan spirituality emphasizes a real equivalence and mutuality between the one who sees and what can be seen. What you see is what you are. There is a symbiosis between the mind and heart of the seer and what they pay attention to. Francis had a unique ability to call others—animals, plants, and elements—“brother” and “sister” because he himself was a little brother. He granted other beings and things mutuality, subjectivity, “personhood,” and dignity because he first honored his own dignity as a son of God. The world of things was a transparent two-way mirror for him, which some of us would call a fully “sacramental” universe.8
As we journey today, we pray to accept the promptings of the Spirit that bring us closer to our neighbour and the Divine.
References
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