When the scholar of the law asked our Lord,
Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Our Lord gave him the answer that every Jew,
had always heard and continues to hear,
that they should, after the law of Moses,
love God with all their heart, their soul, their being,
their strength and mind,
and to love their neighbor as themselves.
So, when the scholar asked our Lord the question,
he didn't get an answer that was any different
from what he had heard throughout his whole life.
But he wasn't satisfied.
He wanted to justify himself,
so he asked our Lord,
Who is my neighbor?
And our Lord answered basically by saying,
Everyone is your neighbor.
And the reason is because our Lord told the story
of the good Samaritan.
And the Samaritan was, in the eyes of the Jews,
the least of all people,
and the one to be despised.
And yet,
this man, because he showed mercy to the man
that had been beaten and left for dead,
he had fulfilled God's commandment.
So, we can reflect that the corporal and spiritual works
of mercy are something that we have to show to all men,
because God, in His words, said,
His mercy has shown it to all men.
And in that regard, in respect to our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, all of us are equal.
And regardless of where we might imagine ourselves to be
in the spiritual life, all of us are sinners,
but for the grace of God, are hell-bound.
And if we have received more grace than others,
then we are sinners.
And if we have received more grace than others,
then we are sinners.
And if we have received more grace than others,
then we will be held to a greater account.
And so, as our Lord, who was perfectly innocent,
and God poured Himself out on the cross
for the worst of sinners,
so we, who are sinful,
and don't deserve the grace of God,
are obliged to show mercy to all.
But then, we might come to,
we could come to the,
we could come to the end of the parable
where our Lord asks the question,
which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robber's victim?
The scholar of the law answered his question
with the words,
the one who treated him with mercy.
And our Lord says, go and do likewise.
Well, we could ask ourselves at that point,
what is mercy?
And the simple answer,
I suppose,
is to look at the crucifix,
look at Jesus Himself,
and say, that is mercy.
But what did our Lord do?
Our Lord came into the world
and He spoke the truth.
He told the truth in season and out of season
to those who wanted to hear it
and those who didn't want to hear it.
And the fact that He told the truth
ultimately cost Him His life.
But remember this also,
that our Lord told the truth,
so that others might be saved,
so that they might have eternal life.
And He came into the world
not only to tell the truth,
but to pour Himself out,
to suffer and to die on the cross.
And our Lord was a victim
for having told the truth.
So as Catholics,
we're trying to follow
the teaching of the Church
and being faithful
to the moral code
and the liturgical norms,
of the Church.
We should bear witness to the truth
by that fidelity.
But if we are trying to be faithful,
we will suffer for it.
And that is to be expected.
And we should accept it and bear it
in good faith and in good cheer
for the salvation of souls.
Not only for those
who need to be protected within the Church
from heresy and from battle,
but also for the profligates
and those who are furthest away from the Church,
for those who are the enemies of the Church,
for those who corrupt the liturgy
and corrupt the faith.
We need to suffer
and to offer ourselves for them as well.
Because without our participation
in the saving work of Christ,
they will be lost.
And our Lord doesn't want them to be lost either.
Sometimes we could say,
well, they have it coming.
We all have it coming.
And if we somehow imagine
that we don't all have it coming,
we are very much mistaken.
Our Lord poured Himself out
for each and every one of us.
St. Paul talks about the...
the...
talks about those who,
corrupt the Gospel in his own day,
and how some had come speaking a different Gospel
than the one that he had received.
Well, he had no patience for it.
And he said very clearly,
if anyone preaches to you a Gospel
other than the one I have,
than you have received,
let that man be accursed.
Let him be anathema,
is the Greek from there.
And that's the excommunication.
And of course, St. Paul did that.
Not only for the protection
of those who were faithful
to the teaching of Christ,
he also did it for the one who was in error
and who was teaching that error.
He stood up as a father for his family
and did what was right for everyone.
It's right to say what is true.
It's right to discipline those
who are speaking falsehood in the name of Christ.
And it's right to protect the sheep.
But St. Paul, he said,
Paul, as we know, as we can see
from the Acts of the Apostle
and all of his letters,
St. Paul was a true father.
Even though he could be severe, very severe,
he suffered for his sheep,
for the good, the bad,
and the worst of them,
and ultimately gave his life as a martyr
in fidelity to Christ,
but for the good of those that were in need,
but for the good of those that were in need,
but for the good of those that were entrusted to his care.
In recent weeks, more often than not,
we've seen good bishops stand up in the public square
and do what is right, like Bishop Burke,
who has been so bold as to refer to the Democratic Party
as the party of death, because that's what it is,
and everybody knows that it is.
The church doesn't like to get involved
in politics, but for years and years and years,
Catholics have been voting for pro-abortion candidates,
and more babies die, more women are injured,
and out of a sheepish concern for not making trouble
or not having the boat rocked,
we have been silent.
And so we have, think of, if you have had an abortion,
opportunity to hear Archbishop Burke preach, you know, that he says the truth, but he says
it in true charity, out of genuine concern for the sheep, those who are going to be harmed
by falsehood, and for those who are speaking falsehood. And we need more of that in this
day and age. We need it very badly. We need to speak the truth. We need to speak it in
charity. And we need to be willing, as our Lord, as the saints have, we need to be willing
to suffer for it and to lift up our hearts for the salvation of all.
St. Maximilian Kolbe founded a spiritual movement to bring about the conversion and
sanctification of souls. And he was very much concerned for...
for the welfare of souls because of the modern world, because of things like freemasonry and
atheism and socialism and communism. He was very concerned about the salvation of souls.
But he wasn't just concerned about those who would be affected by the heresy of these radical
atheistic movements in the world. He wanted to see the conversion of the
Communists.
St. Maximilian Kolbe founded a spiritual movement to bring about the salvation of souls.
St. Maximilian Kolbe founded a spiritual movement to bring about the salvation of souls.
And he did his best to seek goodwill in everyone so that that conversion might be brought about.
So instead of getting angry about the way the world is, we need to do far more in the way of
prayer and in the way of becoming holy ourselves so that with a peaceful heart, without anxiety,
we can work for the salvation of souls, that we can give ourselves to Christ and to the needs of those
around us. That is what is going to bring a change in our world, the kind of concern that our Lord has
shown to us, who spoke the truth, who never compromised, who never backed down, but who poured
himself out.
He gave himself to souls, even the worst of them. And that is the example of charity that we're given in today's
gospel with the Good Samaritan. May we be also Good Samaritans after the primary example of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
May we be also Good Samaritans after the primary example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May we be also Good Samaritans after the primary example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.