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Sunday Scripture Study

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

July 11, 2010

Opening Prayer

First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14

Psalm: 69:14,17,30-37

Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20

Gospel Reading: Luke 10:25-37

In this Sunday’s Gospel Reading, as he makes his way to Jerusalem Jesus is questioned by a “scholar of the law” about how to inherit eternal life. These scholars, also called lawyers (RSV-CE) or scribes (Luke 5:21) were considered to be experts of the Jewish Law.

Jesus asks him what his understanding of the Law is. The lawyer answers by citing Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:4, which is a summary of the Ten Commandments stated in positive terms (i.e., as opposed to “thou shalt not…”).

Even though Jesus approves of his answer, the lawyer, who seems satisfied that he knows what it means to love God, wishes to define more precisely who can be considered one’s neighbor. Jesus answers with a parable that is found only in Luke’s gospel, the story of the Good Samaritan.

The characters in this parable include: a traveler on the perilous road from Jerusalem to Jericho; a priest and a Levite who, given their important religious roles in the Temple, were considered role models to other Jews; and a Samaritan, a member of a despised people who were traditional enemies of the Jews (John 4:9).

QUESTIONS:

The setting for the First Reading is the discourse of Moses to the Israelites instructing them how they are to follow God’s law in the Promised Land which they are about to enter. What do his words tell us about how God wants us to obey his commandments?

Who is testing whom in this Sunday’s Gospel Reading? Does the scholar of the Law seem to think he has passed Jesus’ test in verse 28? How so? Why does Jesus answer with a story instead of with a straight answer? Does Jesus answer his actual question?

How might the priest and the Levite justify their behavior (see Leviticus 21:1-3; Numbers 19:11-22)? Why or why not was this a valid excuse?

Given the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans (see John 4:9, 8:48), what is unusual about the plot twists in this story? What is Jesus’ point here?

What attitude or behavior does God want you to have that is most difficult to accept? After reading this parable, who would you say is your neighbor?

Who have been the Good Samaritans in your life? What makes a Good Samaritan really good? To whom will you be a Good Samaritan this week?

Closing Prayer

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 2822, 1825, 2083, 2447, 1458, 2842

When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.

–St. Rose of Lima

Finding God in Our Lives

Pastor’s Column

15^th Sunday Ordinary Time

July 11, 2010

"For this commandment which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky that you should say, ‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it so that we might carry it out? Nor is it across the sea …. No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out."

Deuteronomy 30:10-14 (1^st reading at Mass)

When I was discerning the priesthood, I used my travel benefits with the airline I worked for at the time to go all over the country on retreats at various religious houses and monasteries, and I did this for several years. One day, while in Massachusetts on a vocation discernment week with a religious community, I called my father (who was nothing if not an agnostic), and told him where I was this time in the pursuit of my illusive vocation, and he said to me, “So, tell me, why do you have to fly 3000 miles to find the will of God?” Well, that comment really opened my eyes! In fact, I did find my vocation – nearby --in the parish church across the street from my house!

God really does not ask extraordinary things of us. If that were so, very few of us would ever get into heaven. St Theresa of Lisieux, (in her autobiography The Story of a Soul), at the beginning of her spiritual life, was put off by some of the stories of the saints and the rigorous penances and austerities they went through. She asked God to show her an “elevator” to live a life pleasing to God.

What is that elevator? We show our love for God by doing well the simple tasks we have to do each day. We do not need to seek God by striking out on long and arduous pilgrimages, climbing the heavens on our own or getting a doctorate in theology! God’s will for us is expressed in the circumstances we now live in, the people in our lives, the situations in which we find ourselves. The present moment is the only place where we can actually show God that we really love him, by showing love to the person we meet in the here and now; by being faithful to God in this concrete situation right here.

Actually, everything we need is in the scriptures and in the faith community we have here at Saint Edward, and by making use of the opportunities presented to us each day in the people we live, work and go to school with, however flawed they or we might be. He is in our mouths in the prayers we say at Mass and in our hearts when we get home: our task is only to carry it out.

Father Gary