12th Sunday after Pentecost 4.9.11 Loving neighbours
There was a story during the week of a pensioner in New Zealand found in his apartment, having been dead for a year. Stories like that do emerge with some frequency.
The mayor of the place where the man lived said that people should take more notice of their neighbours. It may not be easy to do that.
In our current society there is a high value put on privacy and more and more places have big fences around them, and one cannot even reach the front door, but has to speak through an intercom at an outer gate.
For all the modern ways we have to communicate there is an increasing isolation and alienation in our societies.
So we come to today’s parable of the Good Samaritan. Who is our neighbour? Anyone and everyone; specifically whoever is near us at any given moment.
The Gospel actually demands more of us than just keeping a check on our neighbour to see if he is still alive.
It is a good thing to feed a hungry man, or to shelter a homeless one. But Christian obligation goes further than that.
We are to see other people in spiritual terms: to see that each person has a soul to be saved; that he is made in the image of God. If possible we will bring him not just physical care, not just friendship, but bring him the faith.
If we look at another person and try to assess what he needs? Maybe he looks down and out, lonely, sick... or maybe he looks prosperous and happy, well-fed. In either case, or any case, every person needs to know God, needs to be in union with Him.
And we do what we can to enable that to happen. It is no easy matter. It is not just problems of privacy and difficulty of communication that apply, but present day assumptions about ‘imposing’ our religion on others.
I am not saying we must go about preaching to our neighbours, but at least to be aware that faith is always what people need even if they don't know it, or even if they would actively deny it.
Whether we can reach them or not is another matter, but the basic need remains in place.
At least if we know it we will see people in a new light.
We, like everyone else, are tempted to be caught up in the rat race of modern life; to regard other people as just so many black ants that can be in the way of where we are trying to go.
It is so easy to be impersonal towards large numbers of people in all directions. Yet, if we pause to reflect we realize that every other person is just like we are.
Think of yourself and all your fears, hopes, joys, sorrows, achievements, disappointments - and then think that every other person you see has the same things, more or less.
We are all the same; all in the same boat with these things.
We learn to see ‘others’ as subjects not just objects.
Each person is a subject, a centre of many thoughts and desires; above all a soul that God Himself wants to win.
When we realize this we cannot be indifferent to any other person. We don't have time to get to know everyone but we can at least wish them well on the way to salvation.
We offer our prayers, sufferings, everything to help others on their way, as we hope they will do for us. So we develop and express our communal identity in the Church, truly the Body of Christ.
All the while, not neglecting the basic practical charity of looking out for each other.
Nobody will be left dead and alone if we live like this. We will know each other’s value.
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