{"id":1149,"date":"2013-07-14T09:54:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T13:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2013-07-14T09:54:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-14T13:54:42","slug":"15th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-on-the-good-samaritan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/15th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-on-the-good-samaritan\/","title":{"rendered":"15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily on the Good Samaritan"},"content":{"rendered":"

15th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
\nDeuteronomy 30:10-14
\nColossians 1:15-20
\nLuke 10:25-37
\nJuly 14, 2013<\/p>\n

The story of the Good Samaritan is familiar to many.\u00a0 The phrase \u201cGood Samaritan\u201d is still used today to describe the laws that protect people are genuinely trying to do a good deed.<\/p>\n

Familiar story yes but does it make you think?\u00a0 Do you love God with all your heart, being, strength, and mind?\u00a0 How about your neighbor?<\/p>\n

Every time I hear this story, it strikes a cord for me.\u00a0 It reminds me of a day eight or ten years ago.\u00a0 I was in seminary in Washington, DC and went out to take a daily walk.\u00a0 As I began my walk I encounter a man lying on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

Other people were just walking past.\u00a0 Mind you this was the busiest street in the area.\u00a0 I had encounter people sleeping on park benches before but never on the sidewalk.\u00a0 Was he ok and just sleeping?\u00a0 Seeing people sleeping on a bench, you assume they are intentionally resting but in the middle of the sidewalk?<\/p>\n

I wondered what to do.\u00a0 As I approached, I observed him.\u00a0 There were no signs of an injury.\u00a0 He was breathing normally.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t \u201chalf-dead\u201d like the man helped by the Good Samaritan.<\/p>\n

I hate to say it but I decided to pass by without offering assistance.\u00a0 Perhaps I was making the standard excuse that I couldn\u2019t do anything to help.<\/p>\n

When I returned from my walk, he was gone.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if he just woke up and moved on or if someone stopped to help him.<\/p>\n

Now, every time I hear the story of the Good Samaritan, this is what I think of.\u00a0 Was I like the priest or Levite?\u00a0 I could make the excuse that at least I didn\u2019t cross to the other side of the road to avoid him.\u00a0 I walked right up to him to look for injuries but I didn\u2019t offer help.<\/p>\n

Normally when I encounter a person on the street looking for help or someone comes to the parish, I refer them to Catholic Charities.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do this as a \u201ccop-out\u201d.\u00a0 We give money to Catholic Charities as a parish and I also do personally to help them.\u00a0 Catholic Charities can give them not just a hand-out but a hand-up in ways I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In the long-term, I think this is a great approach but sometimes I wonder about the short-term.<\/p>\n

What would it take for you to stop and help?\u00a0 Do you try to help anyone in need (how)?\u00a0 Or do you cross to the other side to avoid them?\u00a0 Do you take the time to \u2018assess their condition\u2019 to see if they need immediate help?\u00a0 It might be as simple as calling an ambulance if they are injured.<\/p>\n

How are you the Good Samaritan?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Deuteronomy 30:10-14 Colossians 1:15-20 Luke 10:25-37 July 14, 2013 The story of the Good Samaritan is familiar to many.\u00a0 The phrase \u201cGood Samaritan\u201d is still used today to describe the laws that protect people are genuinely trying to do a good deed. Familiar story yes but does it …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily on the Good Samaritan’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-ix","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1151,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}