Greeting (See First Reading)
May the Word of God be very near to us in our mouths and in
our hearts, and may Jesus, the living Word and our Lord, always be with you. R/
And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
The Law Is in Your Heart
Love is the core and meaning of life; it is also the summit
of the commandments. We know this. But the question is: How genuine and deep is
our love? The test will be how far we are willing to be inconvenienced by it,
to “lose” time for it, to go out of our way for it, and to have a heart for
strangers and misfits too. Jesus is with us here: he was moved with compassion
at the sight of sinners, the sick and the suffering. Let us ask him, the first
Good Samaritan, to make us good neighbors to all who need us.
Prove Yourself a Neighbour
It is easy to pray for all the people who are suffering and
in need, but Jesus asks of us today: “What do you do for them?” It is easy if
we have the means to just write a check and send it, for then we are not
bothered any further. But Jesus asks us: “Are you willing to make personal
contact and to make your hands dirty for them?” We ask Jesus today for the
heart and the will to make ourselves the neighbors of the needy.
Penitential Act
The Law Is in Your Heart
We want to love people and the Lord. But we know that our
love is often inadequate. We now ask the Lord and each other for forgiveness. (pause)
Lord Jesus, you came among us as compassionate as the Good
Samaritan; you lift up all the downcast:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you make yourself near to those wounded in
their body or their life and you bring them healing: Christ, have mercy. R/
Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you ask us to show your own affectionate love to
everyone in need, whatever the cost. Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us all our sins, especially
our lukewarm love. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Prove Yourself a Neighbor
We have not always recognized the Lord’s face
in the person pleading for our compassion.
We ask pardon from the Lord and from our neighbor.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, the plaintive voice
that begs for our help is yours, Lord: Make us hear it:
Lord, have mercy.
R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, the troubled eyes that crave for our
friendship are yours, Lord: Open our heart: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have
mercy.
The humble, silent need that cries out to us to see and hear
it, is you, Lord: Make us notice and relieve it: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord,
have mercy.
Lord, you meet us in our need for forgiveness. Make us meet
the needy in their misery and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that we may always be available to people who
need us (pause)
Tender and merciful Father, you did not let your Son pass us
by in our poverty and pain, but you let him make himself our neighbor. Make our
heart go out to those who lie wounded by the roadside and give us the courage to
lose time on them to lift them up and to care for them until they are healed. We
ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Dt 30:10-14): The Law of the Heart
God calls us to be converted to him and to obey him and his
commandments. For God is near to us and his law is written in our hearts.
Second Reading (Col 1:15-20): God Is Near to Us in Christ
This is what an ancient hymn to Christ tells us: How near
God wanted to be to people became visible in his
Son Jesus Christ; Jesus is the head of all creation and of all those he saved
by his love.
Gospel (Lk 10:25-37): Everyone in Need Is My Neighbor
To have eternal life it is not enough to know that we ought
to love God and our neighbor; we must also practice this love, even when it is
inconvenient or when the other person is an enemy. For every person in need is
our brother or sister.
Intercessions
Let us present to our God who cares our concern for the
people whom God has placed on our road of life, and let us say: R/ Lord, you
are near to all who call on you.
– For
all ministers of the Church, that they may faithfully proclaim God’s word and
God’s law and at the same time walk in God’s ways of compassion and love
without measure, let us pray: R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For
all those whose profession it is to help the sick and the needy – like doctors,
nurses, social assistants – that they may be motivated by gentleness and love
for those they help, let us pray: R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For
those who lie wounded by the road of life, that they may find good Samaritans
who assist them to restore their faith in life and their trust in people, let
us pray: R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– For
drivers and travelers, that they may have a safe journey, let us pray: R/ Lord,
you are near to all who call on you.
– For
all those who have been good neighbors to us, that the Lord may reward them,
let us pray: R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
– And
for all of us, that we may have for one another time and attention and a
helping hand, let us pray: R/ Lord, you are near to all who call on you.
Lord God, people are your gift to us. Help us to love one
another with the generous love you have shown us in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/
Amen.
Preparation of the Gifts
Lord our God, you want us not to seek security in observing
the letter of the law but to seek the insecurity of committing ourselves to you
and to people. Give us the courage to take the risk and, like Jesus, make the
sacrifice
of giving ourselves to you
in our neighbors in need, of sharing in their joys and
sorrows, their problems and their protests, that we may know and love them as
you know and love us in Christ Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
We remember in the Eucharistic prayer the total love shown
us by Jesus in his death on the cross and the giving of the Eucharist. Let us
give our wholehearted thanks to the Father.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
As sons and daughters of one Father, we are called to love
one another. Let us pray with all trust to him who is our Father: R/ Our
Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our
day. In your mercy, make us free from our fears and formalisms, and help us to
love our neighbor as you yourself love us— with all your heart and soul— as we
work in joyful hope for the return in glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God who laid down his life that we might
live. Happy are we to be united around the table of the Lord as the Lord’s
brothers and sisters. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, when, exhausted and hungry, we sat by the side
of the road, you sent us Jesus your Son. We thank you for letting him speak to
us his tender words of encouragement and for healing with his body and blood
our wounds caused by sin. Let him give us here the love that
makes us near to all the miseries of our brothers and sisters who suffer. We
ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Several people saw the man who lay half-dead by the side of
the road, but it was a stranger who came and took pity on him. Go and help
people around you who are suffering, humiliated, beaten by life. Lift them up,
bind their wounds, waste your time on them, and give them the best of
yourselves, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go and love one another as the Lord loves us.
R/ Thanks be to God.
***
Commentary: Letting Oneself be Moved
Read:
The
Commandments of God are written in our hearts, as natural law. Christ is the
Firstborn who models for us how to live God’s Law. The parable of the Good
Samaritan teaches us how to put God’s commandment to practice.
Reflect:
When the
Samaritan saw the wounded man, he was moved with compassion. The Greek word
used for this being moved with compassion is “splagchnizomai.” This
word, according to theologian James Allison, is “the parable’s
bombshell.” The noun form “splagchna” was used in Greek literature to
designate the inner parts (bowels) of a blood sacrifice. When the heart was cut
out during a sacrificial ritual, it was called a splagchna. It
later became a generic term for the inner organs. Hence, using the word to
refer to being moved implies a gut-wrenching reaction. In other words, the
compassion of the Samaritan is not a reasoned-out, calculated decision based on
an analysis of pros and cons, but an innate, spontaneous reaction emerging from
his entrails, which moves him into action. “Go and do the same” is an
invitation to make empathic compassion one’s core nature.
Pray:
Pray for
the grace of empathy—the capacity to be moved by the needs of others.
Act:
