Bishop's Message:

Cultivating a Way of Life that Looks Out for the Other

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This week we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan – one of the most well-known stories in the New Testament where Jesus not only catechizes us on how to care for our neighbor but also how to become neighbor. Our “neighbor” is more than just the person living next to us or across the street.  Our neighbor is every person with whom we come into contact each day.  Pope Francis once explained that the Good Samaritan isn’t just a parable – it is a way of life.  

When we see and care for another, it no doubt helps that person with what he or she needs. But, just as importantly, cultivating a way of life that looks out for the other is key to our own spiritual journey.  St. Augustine once wrote that the beginning of sin is being in curvatus in se – turned inward on yourself.  The story of the Good Samaritan challenges us to stop being self-centered and become other-centered, ironically, finding ourselves by encountering and helping the other.  

As we again hear this wonderful parable, let us truly see our neighbor in the person asking for help on the street corner, in the worn hands of an elderly person preparing for their journey to God, and in the tired face of the laborer who helps make our communities function day in and day out. Let us see our neighbor’s gaze upon us -- seeing Christ standing before us -- rather than looking past him or her. 

Being other-centered also draws us into spiritual accompaniment of those suffering pain and loss in far off places.  When one part of the Mystical Body of Christ suffers, all parts of the body suffer.  May the sadness and fear of our neighbors in Highland Park, Illinois, Uvalde, San Antonio, Oklahoma, and as far away as Ukraine, be part of our lived experience so that their needs might be met by us, even if only by our prayers and solidarity as their friend and neighbor in Christ.