THEY ROBBED HIM, BEAT HIM AND LEFT HIM HALF DEAD

PRAYER MOMENT                      

Monday 6 October 2014, S Bruno.

THEY ROBBED HIM, BEAT HIM AND LEFT HIM HALF DEAD

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “The brigands took all he had, beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10:25-37)

Reflection. Jesus gives us the story of the Good Samaritan and leaves it like that. He doesn’t comment. It does not need comment. The message is glaringly obvious. It has happened every day since the time of Cain and Abel. And the response of people has been like the three travellers on the road. Two of them passed by. One helped. It is not hard to look into the heart of the two – and the one. In the face of the suffering of people today two out of three don’t want to get involved. It is too inconvenient, too risky. It is not my problem. But there is often,  perhaps nearly always, one who will stop and look and be moved by compassion. He or she may not be ‘religious’ or belong to a church. But they are people whose heart is moved by compassion and they do something. There are many thoughts that come in the face of this story but one is the astonishing response of people to suffering. Take the Ebola crisis. Locals and foreigners are risking their lives to help others and they are often not thanked for it. Some are even attacked and killed for trying to help.  

Prayer. Lord Jesus, give us a compassionate heart like yours to open ourselves to the suffering around us.   Amen..  

David Harold-Barry SJ