The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to assess our action and inclusion in our efforts to love our neighbour as modelled by Jesus.
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Galatians asserts loyalty to the Gospel and the truth that there Is no other Gospel in Paul’s vindication of His Apostleship.
* [1:6–10] In place of the usual thanksgiving (see note on Rom 1:8), Paul, with little to be thankful for in the Galatian situation, expresses amazement at the way his converts are deserting the gospel of Christ for a perverted message. He reasserts the one gospel he has preached (Gal 1:7–9) and begins to defend himself (Gal 1:10).
* [1:6] The one who called you: God or Christ, though in actuality Paul was the divine instrument to call the Galatians.
* [1:8] Accursed: in Greek, anathema; cf. Rom 9:3; 1 Cor 12:3; 16:22.
* [1:10] This charge by Paul’s opponents, that he sought to conciliate people with flattery and to curry favor with God, might refer to his mission practices (cf. 1 Cor 9:19–23) but the word still suggests it refers to his pre-Christian days (cf. Gal 1:14; Phil 3:6). The self-description slave of Christ is one Paul often uses in a greeting (Rom 1:1). (Galatians, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
Psalm 111 offers praise for God’s Wonderful Works.
* [Psalm 111] A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (Psalms, PSALM 111, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells 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).
* [10:25] Scholar of the law: an expert in the Mosaic law, and probably a member of the group elsewhere identified as the scribes (Lk 5:21).
* [10:31–32] Priest…Levite: those religious representatives of Judaism who would have been expected to be models of “neighbor” to the victim pass him by. (Luke, CHAPTER 10, n.d.)
Suzanne Braddock comments that Jesus, the consummate teacher, evokes the answer from the scholar by asking: “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” The scholar answers” The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him “Go and do likewise.”
I conclude that the exercise of mercy can take real courage and discernment. I pray that we all may have the wisdom and courage to exercise mercy at all costs. (Braddock, 2022)
Don Schwager quotes “God desires to be our neighbor,” by 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) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Galatians 1:6-12 comments that as followers of Jesus, we are called to “something more”—to love and serve God and our neighbor. But there’s a difference between being called by God’s grace and responding to that grace by what we do. We love our neighbor because God loves us. We care for the poor because God moves our heart to compassion. We worship the Lord because of his goodness and faithfulness to us.
Brothers and sisters, we have been invited through grace to a deep and abiding relationship with our Lord. The more we realize that we didn’t do anything to deserve this amazing gift, the more we will want to respond to it by serving God and his people. That’s the gospel that Paul preached, and that’s the one we have been blessed to receive and share.
“Lord, thank you for calling me by grace to be with you.” (Meditation on Galatians 1:6-12, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the departure of Paul from an opening thanksgiving to an attack on those who have attempted to restrict Jesus to those circumcised and observant of Jewish Law. The scholar correctly declares the Law expressed in the “Shema Israel” as the most important and Jesus uses a parable to define mercy to a neighbour. Friar Jude reminds us of the “zing” often included by Luke to focus on attention.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, writes of the cosmic scope of Franciscan mysticism. He uses the word mysticism in a very traditional and classic sense. It is not pointing to something esoteric and unavailable, though it does point to something that is only available to those who go beyond the surface and exterior, those who experience the inner grace and connectivity of all things. As Jesus, Paul, and Franciscan theologian Bonaventure (1221–1274) each said in their own way, mysticism is often foolishness to the educated and obvious to the simple.
Franciscan mysticism is therefore not really about Francis, but about a universal notion of the Christ and therefore of all reality. Francis pushes all of our seeing to the absolute edge by always including those whom other systems might too easily exclude—lepers, non-Christians, poor people, hated outsiders. When it loses that “edgy” position, it might be mini-mysticism, or even church mysticism, but it is never Franciscan mysticism. Francis knew that only love is big enough to handle and hold truth. Truth which is not loving, joyful, and inclusive is never the Great Truth. (Rohr, 2022)
We seek to be open to the transformation by the Spirit that invokes compassion and mercy for all people.
References
Braddock, S. (2022, October 3). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/100322.html
Galatians, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/galatians/1?6
Luke, CHAPTER 10. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/10?25
Meditation on Galatians 1:6-12. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/10/03/504079/
Psalms, PSALM 111. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/111?1
Rohr, R. (2022, October 3). A Universal Connection — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-universal-connection-2022-10-03/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved October 3, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=oct3
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