나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

Monday

27th Week of Ordinary Time

(I) 1st Reading: Jonah 1:1-2:1-2, 11

The prophet is charged with a mission and takes flight
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, [2] "Arise,
go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come
up before me.” [3] But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the
Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the
fare, and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of
the Lord.

The storm
--------------
[4] But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tem-
pest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. [5] Then the mariners
were afraid, and each cried to his god; and they threw the wares that were in the
ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner
part of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. [6] So the captain came
and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call upon your God!
Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we do not perish.”

[7] And they said to one another, "Come let us cast lots, that we may know on
whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell
upon Jonah. [8] Then they said to him, "Tell us, on whose account this evil has
come upon us? What is your occupation? And whence do you come? What is
your country? And to what people are you?” [9] And he said to them, "I am a
Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry
land.” [10] Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "What is
this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the pres-
ence of the Lord, because he had told them.

[11] Then the said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet
down for us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. [12] He said to
them, "Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for
you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
[13] Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they
could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. [14]
Therefore they cried to the Lord, "We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for
this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done as
it pleased thee.” [15] So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the
sea ceased from its raging. [16] Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and
they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

[17a] And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in
the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah in the belly of the fish
----------------------------------------
[1] Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, [2] saying,

Jonah's psalm of thanksgiving
------------------------------------------
"I called to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice.

[10] And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

*********************************************************************************** Commentary:

1:1-2:10. The first part of the book acts as an introduction to the second, which
is where the main message is developed. The first two chapters contain the
main storyline and introduce the main characters. As regards the story, they
show that when God proposes to do something it will inevitably be done: Jonah
does not want to carry out God's command, but he does so despite himself (he
is as stubborn and awkward at the end – cf. 3:1-2 – as he was 1:1-2); in addition, some sailors learn to invoke the Lord, the only God.

But the main function of these chapters is to introduce the characters of the story
– God, the pagans and Jonah. The Lord God of Israel, as Jonah well knows, is
"the god of heaven, who made the sea and dry land” (1:9) and he is also the Just
One who never accuses an innocent person, and who acts as he pleases (1:14).
His dominion over the animal (1:17; 2:10) and inanimate (1:4, 15) world and over
the destinies of men (1:7) goes to show that he has this power.

The sailors, who are pagans, are religious men and well-disposed towards others
(cf. the note on 1:4-16).

Jonah is the character around whom the story is built. At first he does not make
a very good impression – certainly not, if you focus on his disobedience to the
Lord (1:3). However, the text does have positive things to say about the prophet:
Jonah does not hesitate to say that he worships the Lord, the God of heaven and
earth, and he is ready to prove his faith by deeds (1:9, 12). He is also a devout
person: when he is in the belly of the fish, he prays to the Lord (2:1) in the style
of a grateful Israelite (2:1-9). Even so, the sacred writer regards Jonah as an in-
consistent man: one moment (1:9) he is saying that God is the Lord of sea and
earth, and yet he tries to hide from him; and later on, he will acknowledge God
to be merciful (4:2), and yet ask him to punish the Ninevites rather than have
mercy on them.

There is also another feature that defines Jonah. Despite his disobedience to
God's command, Jonah has something that the pagan sailors to not have: he
knows the true God and therefore only he knows how to resolve the situation
when they are plunged into danger (1:12, 15). If we bear in mind that the name
Jonah means "dove” (a name given elsewhere in the Bible to Israel: cf. Hos 7:11;
11:11; etc.), we could say that, if the sailors symbolize pagans in general, Jonah
in some way represents Israel. In the sense the book of Jonah is about the role
of Israel in the world. In this connexion St Jerome says: "The twelve minor pro-
phets, gathered together in a single volume, foretell more and greater ideas and
events that can be gleaned from a literal interpretation […]. Jonah, the most
beautiful dove, prefigures the passion of the Lord; he calls the world to conver-
sion and, in his mission to Nineveh, proclaims salvation to the Gentiles” (Epis-
tulae, 53).

1:1-3. The book begins with the failed attempt to send Jonah on a mission. The
place-names and the whole scene are less real than symbolic: Jonah is sent to
Nineveh (a most wicked city: cf. v. 1 – its reputation in biblical tradition: cf. Nah
3:1-4), but he goes off in the very opposite direction, to Tarshish. This could
mean Tartessos, a Phoenician colony in southern Spain, but it could also mean
some distant place in the west (cf. the note on Is 23:1-18). If Nineveh is to the
east of Jerusalem, Tarshish is to the west, but the main thing about it is that it
is "[away] from the presence of the Lord” (v. 3).

Jonah disobeys the Lord and he does so blatantly. However, the sacred writer is
more subtle: he describes Jonah's actions in such a way that they come across
as the very opposite of those of Jeremiah, the prophet of the nations (cf. Jer 1:4ff);
indeed, Jonah acts more in the style of Cain: like Cain, Jonah flees "from the pre-
sence of the Lord” (v. 3; cf Gen 4:13, 16) and like him he gets very annoyed with
God (cf. 4:1-4); Gen 4:4-7), although in the end God protects them both (cf. 2:1-2;
Gen 4:15); "The flight of the prophet can be read as a general metaphor for the
way that man runs away from the presence of God and immerses himself I the
things of this world when he has broken His commandments; but the storms of
misfortune and the doom of shipwreck prompt him to remember God's presence
and to journey back to the One from which he sought to flee (St Jerome, Com-
mentarii in Ionam, 1, 4).

1:4-16. The story of Jonah's adventure at sea is designed to show two things –
that the Lord can also be the God of the pagans; and that even people who do
not know God can have many virtues. The episode depicts the sailors as reli-
gious men: when shipwreck threatens, they do not just lighten the boat's load,
but they pray to their gods. This natural religious feeling of theirs is full of imper-
fections; however, it is the route they take to discover the true God: each invokes
his own god (vv. 5, 6) and they cast lots to find out who is the guilty one, the
cause of their misfortune (v. 7). In the writings of some pagan authors (Horace
and Cicero, for example), we find evidence of this belief that if someone guilty of
sin was on a boat he was a risk to the rest of those on board (cf. v. 10). But the
sailors were not only men of faith: they were also kind people: when Jonah sug-
gests that they throw him overboard to quell the storm (cf. v. 12), they don't take
him up on it; they try to reach the shore by rowing (v. 13). Only as a last resort
do they throw Jonah overboard (v. 15), and not before calling on the Lord not to
hold it against them (v. 14): "How great is the faith of these sailors! They find
themselves in terrible danger, and plead for the life of another: they know that
the spiritual death of sin is more than physical death” (St Jerome, Commentarii
in Ionam, 1, 14).

The result of these adventures is that the sailors are converted to the God of
Israel, so, instead of each calling on "his god” (vv. 5, 6), they call on the Lord (vv.
14-16). Also, they end up making vows to the Lord and offering sacrifice to him
(v. 16); that is, they do exactly what Jonah promises to do once he is saved (cf.
2:9). It is easy to see where all this is leading to – to a situation quite plainly, is open to everyone: all who are upright can attain God's salvation;
not only in the temple but even on a ship it is possible to offer sacrifice to the
Lord.

1:17-2:10. Chapter 1 has shown God's providence at work in all sorts of ways.
Now that providence focuses on Jonah, saving him from the sea and bringing
him onto dry land. Being swallowed by the big fish (1:17) is not a punishment for
Jonah, but a salvation (2:2, 6, 9). In biblical tradition, the sea is depicted as a
place of elements hostile to man – things that only God can control (cf. Job 7:12;
Ps 104:9; etc.), which is why, on occasions, it is likened to Sheol (v. 2; cf. Job
7:9), the domain of death from which none can return (v. 6). If one bears in mind
that sense of the word, Jesus' use of the sign of Jonah (Mt. 12:40) to explain his
own death and resurrection is much less artificial than might appear at first sight:
Sheol, the kingdom of death, cannot hold Christ in its grip for more than three
days. Also, the role of water in the Jonah story may explain why the text is used
in baptismal liturgy. The Christian is immersed, buried, in the water of Baptism
and reborn to a new form of life in Christ: "To enter into perfect life, we must imi-
tate the example of Christ, and not only the examples of meekness, patience
and humility that he gave us in life, but also the example of his death […]. We

relive his death in our lives by being buried with him in baptism. What type of
tomb is this, and what good does it do us to enter into death of Christ? A clean
break with everything in our past lives is necessary, and this is possible only
through the new birth of which the Lord spoke: re-birth, as the word itself sug-
gests, marks the beginning of new life […]. How can we follow Christ when he
descends among the dead? We follow him into the tomb by our baptism. The
bodies of those who are baptized are, in a certain sense, buried in the waters
of baptism. In a myssterious way, baptism strips the body of its past sins” (St
Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, 15, 35).

Jonah's prayer in the belly of the fish (vv. 2-9) is a mosaic of passages borrowed
(not exactly verbatim) from the Psalms. What we have here is a typical thanks-
giving psalm – past afflictions recalled, an account of how the person was res-
cued from them, a promise to offer sacrifices and to keep one's vows. It may
seem a little strange that this prayer is proclaimed here: it would, one might
think, fit better after v. 10, when Jonah has been saved. Still, the thrust of the
prayer is perfectly compatible with the context. Therefore, Origen comments,
"Who can tell what evil in our day is represented by the great beast that swal-
lowed Jonah? […]. Because he was unfaithful, Jonah woke in the body of the
whale; when he repented, he was spat out again. Back on dry land, he obeyed
the commandments of the Lord and became […] the herald of salvation to all
Ninevites, including those of today, who live under the threat of death. Rejoicing
in the mercy of God, Jonah did not want to see God's justice and punishment
carried out on the sinful” (De oratione, 13, 4).
--
**********
at the start – cf.
where salvation,

(II) 1st Reading: Galatians 1:6-12

A Warning
----------------
[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the
grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel -- [7] not that there is another
gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of
Christ. [8] But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gos-
pel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. [9] As we
have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

[10] Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?
If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

God's Call
---------------
[11] For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by
me is not man's gospel. [12] For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

6-9. The Galatians had suddenly begun to go off course, for no sooner had St
Paul preached to them during his second visit, than enemies of his appeared on
the scene seeking to undermine his authority and had won over the Galatians,
especially on the matter of circumcision.

In view of this, the Apostle clearly and forcefully spells out to the Galatians that
there is only one Gospel, only one way to attain salvation. "These people", St.
Jerome explains, "wanted to change the Gospel, to twist it; but that is some-
thing they cannot succeed in doing, for this Gospel is such that it cannot be
true if it is tampered with" ("Comm. in Gal", 1, 7).

The content of Revelation -- the deposit of faith -- cannot be interfered with. The
Apostles, as their very title implies, were sent to pass on, in all its integrity, what
had been entrusted to them (cf. 1 Cor 11:23). That is why St Paul tells his assis-
tants in the government of the Church, Titus and Timothy, to guard very carefully
the truths he has taught them (cf. 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14; Tit 1:9; 2:1; etc.).

St Paul is extremely insistent on the need to protect the deposit of faith, and he
reacts very forcefully against those who seek to adulterate it, as we can see in
this present text. Any attempt to replace the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with a
different teaching does indeed warrant the severe judgment which the Apostle
here delivers in God's name. In the same way, "the Church which received the
office of safeguarding the deposit of faith along with the apostolic duty of tea-
ching, likewise possesses the right and duty of proscribing [...] opinions that
are known to be opposed to the doctrine of the faith" (Vatican I, "Dei Filius",
chap. 4).

There is, then, no "new Christianity" waiting to be discovered. "The Christian eco-
nomy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away;
and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation
of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 5).

10. One of the accusations directed against St Paul was that, in order to make it
easier for people to become Christians, he tried to win them over by not requiring
Gentiles to undergo circumcision. In fact the Apostle's only aim was to serve
Christ; for him, as St John Chrysostom put it, "to love Christ was life, the world,
heaven, present well-being, the kingdom, the promise, immeasurable good; out-
side of this he did not concern himself with classifying things as sorrowful or joy-
ful, nor did he regard anything that one might have in this world as disagreeable
or pleasant" ("Second Hom. in Praise of St Paul").

St Paul can assert that he did not mind if there were people who did not under-
stand him or even rejected his teaching. He had plenty of experience of opposi-
tion to the demands of the Gospel; and this never led him to play down the reali-
ty of the Cross in order to make more acceptable the truth he was proclaiming.
In addition to lack of response from Gentiles, his faithfulness to Christ had also
earned him enmity and persecution from Jews (cf. Acts 13:50).

We can learn a great deal from Paul to help us not to be cowed by "what people
may think". Although Christian living does sometimes clash with the environment
around us, we should not desist from trying to be faithful to the demands of the
Gospel. "Therefore, when in our own life or in that of others we notice something
that is not going well, something that requires the spiritual and human help which,
as children of God, we can and ought to provide, then a clear sign of prudence is
to apply the appropriate remedy by going to the root of the trouble, resolutely,
lovingly and sincerely. There is no room here for inhibitions, for it is a great mis-
take to think that problems can be solved by inaction or procrastination" (St. J.
Escriva, "Friends of God", 157).

St Teresa, for her part, writes: "We are trying to attain union with God. We want
to follow the counsels of Christ, on whom were showered insults and false wit-
ness. Are we, then, really so anxious to keep intact our own reputation and cre-
dit? We cannot do so and yet attain to union, for the two ways diverge" ("Life",
chap. 31). If we are truly to serve God we must be ready to face indifference and
misunderstanding whenever it may arise. "You must indeed have purified your in-
tention well when you said: From this moment on I renounce all human gratitude
and reward" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 789).

11-12. "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10), Paul asked at the moment of his
conversion. Jesus replied, 'Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be
told all that is appointed for you to do" (ibid.). The former persecutor, now under
the influence of grace, will receive instruction and Baptism through the ordinary
course of divine Providence -- from a man, Ananias. Thereby Jesus led him to
humility, obedience and abandonment. The Gospel which St Paul preached was
identical with that preached by the other Apostles, and already had the character
of "tradition" in the nascent Church (cf. 1 Cor 15:3; Gal 2:2). This is compatible
with Paul's claim -- made in this passage -- that his Gospel does not come from
any man but through a revelation from Jesus Christ. Firstly, because on seeing
the risen Christ he was given supernatural light to understand that Jesus was
not only the Messiah but also the Son of God; and also because this first reve-
lation was followed by many others to which he refers in his epistles (cf. 1 Cor
11:23; 13:3-8 and especially 2 Cor 12:1-4).

St Paul's was a unique case, because normally a person came to know the
Gospel of Christ by receiving it or learning it from those who had seen Christ du-
ring his life on earth and listened to his teachings. This was what happened in
St Luke's case, for example (cf. Lk 1:2). St Paul still felt the need to go to Jeru-
salem to hear the Apostles' preaching (cf. below 1:16-18), especially that of St
Peter.

Gospel Reading: Luke 10:25-37

Parable of the Good Samaritan
--------------------------------------------
[25] And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him (Jesus) to the test, saying, "Tea-
cher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" [26] He said to him, "What is written
in the law? How do you read?" [27] And he answered, "You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind: and your neighbor as yourself." [28] And He said to him,
"You have answered right; do this, and you will live." [29] But he, desiring to
justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

[30] Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he
fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him
half dead. [31] Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he
saw him he passed by on the other side. [32] So likewise a Levite, when he
came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. [33] But a Sa-
maritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had
compassion, [34] and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and
wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care
of him. [35] And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the inn-
keeper, saying, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay
you when I come back.' [36] Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor
to the man who fell among the robbers?" [37] He said, "The one who showed
mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

25-28. Our Lord's teaching is that the way to attain eternal life is through faithful
fulfillment of the Law of God. The Ten Commandments, which God gave Moses
on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17), express the natural law in a clear and con-
crete way. It is part of Christian teaching that the natural law exists, that it is a
participation by rational creatures in the Eternal Law and that it is impressed on
the conscience of every man when he is created by God (cf. Leo XIII, "Libertas
Praestantissimum"). Obviously, therefore, the natural law, expressed in the Ten
Commandments, cannot change or become outdated, for it is not dependent on
man's will or on changing circumstances.

25-28. 우리의 주님의 가르침은 영원한 생명을 획득하는 길이 하느님의 법(신법, the Law
of God)의 충실한 구현을 통하여서임을 말합니다. 하느님께서 시나이 산(Mount Sinai)
위에서 모세(Moses)에게 주셨던 십계명(the Ten Commandments)들은 (탈출기 20,1-17)
분명하고 그리고 구체적인 방식으로 자연법(the natural law)을 표현합니다(express).
자연법이 존재한다는 것, 이 법이 이성을 가진 피조물(rational creatures)들에
의한 영원한 법(the Eternal Law)에의 참여를 말하며 그리고 이 법이 모든 사람의
양심(conscience)에 그가 하느님에 의하여 창조될 때에 찍혀져 있다는 것은 그리스도교
가르침의 일부분입니다. [교황 레오 13세(Leo XIII), "Libertas Praestantissimum"을
참조하라]. 그러므로, 명백하게, 십계명들에 표현되어 있는 자연법은 변하거나 혹은
시대에 뒤지게 될 수 없는데, 이는 이 법이 사람의 의지(will) 혹은 변화하는 상황들에
의존하지 않기 때문입니다.

In this passage, Jesus praises and accepts the summary of the Law given by
the Jewish scribe. This reply, taken from Deuteronomy (6:4ff), was a prayer which
the Jews used to say frequently. Our Lord gives the very same reply when He is
asked which is the principal commandment of the Law and concludes His answer
by saying, "On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets"
(Matthew 22:40; cf. also Romans 13:8-9; Galatians 5:14).

바로 이 구절에서, 예수님께서는 유다교의 율법 학자에 의하여 주어진 율법(the Law)의
요약을 칭찬하고 그리고 받아들이십니다. 신명기(6,4 및 이어지는 몇 개의 절들)로부터
발췌된 바로 이 답변은 유다인들이 자주 기도했던 한 개의 기도문이었습니다. 우리의
주님께서는, 율법 중의 주된 계명이 무엇인지 당신께서 질문을 받게 되었을 때에, 바로
이 동일한 답변을 주시며 그리고 당신의 대답을 다음과 같이 말씀하심으로써 끝맺으십니다:
"온 율법과 예언서의 정신이 이 두 계명에 달려있다." (마태오 복음서 22,40; 또 로마 13,8-9;
갈라티아 5,14를 참조하라).

There is a hierarchy and order in these two commandments constituting the dou-
ble precept of charity: before everything and above everything comes loving God
in Himself; in the second place, and as a consequence of the first commandment,
comes loving one's neighbor, for God explicitly requires us to do so (1 John 4:21;
cf. notes on Matthew 22:34-40 and 22:37-38).

이러한 두 개의 계명들에는 [초자연 덕들인 향주 삼덕(three theological virtues)들
중의 하나인] 애덕(charity)이라는 이중의 규범을 구성하는 계층 구조(hierarchy)와 순서
(order)가 다음과 같이 있습니다: 모든 것에 먼저 그리고 모든 것 위에 그분 안에서(in Himself)
하느님을 사랑함이 우선하며(comes), 그리고 두 번째로, 그리고 첫 번째 계명의 결과로서,
자신의 이웃을 사랑함이 우선하는데, 이는 하느님께서 우리에게 그렇게 행할 것을 명백하게
(explicitly) 요구하시기 때문입니다 (1요한 4,21; 마태오 복음서 22,34와 22,37-38의
주석들을 참조하라).

This passage of the Gospel also included another basic doctrine: the Law of
God is not something negative--"Do not do this"--but something completely posi-
tive -- love. Holiness, to which all baptized people are called, does not consist in
not sinning, but in loving, in doing positive things, in bearing fruit in the form of
love of God. When our Lord describes for us the Last Judgment He stresses this
positive aspect of the Law of God (Matthew 25:31-46). The reward of eternal life
will be given to those who do good.

이 복음서의 바로 이 구절은 또한 다음과 같은 또 다른 근본적인 교리를 포함하였습니다:
하느님의 법(신법)은 "이것을 행하지 말라" 라는 금지하는(negative) 어떤 것이 아니라,
사랑(love)이라는 전적으로 긍적적인(positive) 어떤 것입니다. 거기로 세례를 받은 사람들
모두가 부름을 받는 거룩함[Holiness, 성성(聖性)]은 죄를 지음이 아니라, 사랑함을
(loving), 긍정적인 일들을 행함을, 하느님에 대한 사랑(love of God)의 모습으로(in the
form of) 열매를 맺음을, 주된 부분으로 가지고 있습니다(consists in). 우리의 주님께서
우리를 위하여 최후의 심판에 대하여 설명하실 때에 당신께서는 하느님의 법(신법)의
바로 이러한 긍적적인 면(positive aspect)을 강조하십니다 (마태오 복음서 25,31-46).
영원한 생명이라는 보상(reward)은 선을 행하는 자들(those who do good)에게
주어질 것입니다.

27. "Yes, our only occupation here on earth is that of loving God--that is, to start
doing what we will be doing for all eternity. Why must we love God? Well, be-
cause our happiness consists in love of God; it can consist in nothing else. So,
if we do not love God, we will always be unhappy; and if we wish to enjoy any
consolation and relief in our pains, we will attain it only by recourse to love of
God. If you want to be convinced of this, go and find the happiest man according
to the world; if he does not love God, you will find that in fact he is an unhappy
man. And, on the contrary, if you discover the man most unhappy in the eyes of
the world, you will see that because he loves God he is happy in every way. Oh
my God!, open the eyes of our souls, and we will seek our happiness where we
truly can find it" (St. John Mary Vianney, "Selected Sermons", Twenty-second
Sunday after Pentecost).

29-37. In this moving parable, which only St. Luke gives us, our Lord explains
very graphically who our neighbor is and how we should show charity towards
him, even if he is our enemy.

Following other Fathers, St. Augustine ("De Verbis Domini Sermones", 37)
identifies the Good Samaritan with our Lord, and the waylaid man with Adam,
the source and symbol of all fallen mankind. Moved by compassion and piety,
He comes down to earth to cure man's wounds, making them His own (Isaiah
53:4; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 3:5). In fact, we often see Jesus
being moved by man's suffering (cf. Matthew 9:36; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13). And
St. John says: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God
sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is
love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another" (1 John 4:9-11).

This parable leaves no doubt about who our neighbor is--anyone (without distinc-
tion of race or relationship) who needs our help; nor about how we should love
him--by taking pity on him, being compassionate towards his spiritual and cor-
poral needs; and it is not just a matter of having the right feelings towards him;
we must do something, we must generously serve him.

Christians, who are disciples of Christ, should share His love and compassion,
never distancing themselves from others' needs. One way to express love for
one's neighbor is perform the "works of mercy", which get their name from the
fact that they are not duties in justice. There are fourteen such works, seven
spiritual and seven corporal. The spiritual are: To convert the sinner; To instruct
the ignorant; To counsel the doubtful; To comfort the sorrowful; To bear wrongs
patiently; To forgive injuries; To pray for the living and the dead. The corporal
works are: To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked;
To shelter the homeless; To visit the sick; To visit the imprisoned; To bury the
dead.

31-32. Very probably one reason why our Lord used this parable was to correct
one of the excesses of false piety common among His contemporaries. Accor-
ding to the Law of Moses, contact with dead bodies involved legal impurity, from
which one was cleansed by various ablutions (cf. Numbers 19:11-22; Leviticus
21:1-4, 11-12). These regulations were not meant to prevent people from helping
the injured; they were designed for reasons of hygiene and respect for the dead.
The aberration of the priest and the Levite in this parable consisted in this: they
did not know for sure whether the man who had been assaulted was dead or not,
and they preferred to apply a wrong interpretation of a secondary, ritualistic pre-
cept of the Law rather than obey the more important commandment of loving
one's neighbor and giving him whatever help one can.
　

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.