Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Who Is My Neighbor?
Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: I
Introduction
Jonah is not a prophetic but a humoristic, didactic book. In an ironic way it teaches a surprising universalism: God wants also pagans to be converted. Perhaps it also teaches prophets to accept their mission and not to refuse to seek the conversion even of the sinners they may despise. Like the prophet Jonah, we sometimes run away from our mission – the mission of any Christian – to bring salvation to people everywhere, because we lack the courage which involvement and commitment demands. This commitment is a mission of love, even to strangers.
Opening Prayer
Our God and Father,
in signs and stories
Your Son Jesus made it clear to us
that love of you and our neighbor
is the heart of the Christian life.
Make it indeed clear and obvious to us
that anyone in need is our neighbor
and that in serving those around us
we love and serve you,
our Lord and God for ever.
Responsorial Psalm
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Out of my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me;
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed over me.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Then I said, "I am banished from your sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple."
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.
R. You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Then a teacher of the law came and began testing Jesus. He asked:
“Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus responded:
“What is written in the law? How do you interpret it?”
The man answered:
“It is written: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus said:
“That’s a good answer! Do this, and you will live.”
The man wanted to justify himself, so he asked:
“And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then said:
“There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half-dead.
A priest was walking along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side.
So, likewise, a Levite saw the man and also passed by on the other side.
However, a Samaritan was traveling that way, and when he saw the man, he was moved with compassion.
He approached him, cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and bandaged them. Then he placed him on his own animal and took him to a roadside inn, where he took care of him.
The next day, he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.’”
Jesus then asked:
“Which of these three, do you think, made himself a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The teacher of the law answered:
“The one who had mercy on him.”
And Jesus said:
“Then go and do the same.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– 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, we pray:
– For all 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, we pray:
– For all those who have been good neighbors to us, that the Lord may reward them, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
in these signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus tells us the story
of how he has given his life for us.
Give him to us now,
that he may share with us
his strength to do as he did,
to give his and our life for all,
that we may live with him in your love,
now and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Our God and Father,
we give you thanks for Jesus,
your Son in our midst.
Like him, may we tell with our lives
the old story, ever new,
of how you want to care through us
for every person in need.
God, live in us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We have heard how Jesus wants to make us all good Samaritans, people who have time and attention, compassion and love, for everyone in need. Our neighbor is any person who needs us. May the loving and almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
6 October 2025
Taking risks to make our compassion real
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most familiar in the Gospel, yet it always challenges us in new ways. Jesus tells the story along a road everyone knew was dangerous—the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, notorious for robbers and ambushes. The point is clear: this is not a safe or easy situation, but a place where compassion requires courage.
Given a choice, we would blame the traveller who carelessly risked his life by travelling alone on that dangerous road - he should not have gone alone. Yet Jesus shows us that love does not stop to calculate blame. Mercy is given even to those who “brought trouble on themselves.”
Then we meet the priest and the Levite. They see the man but choose to pass by. Perhaps they feared ritual impurity, or maybe it was just the motto “safety first.” Whatever the excuse, their concern for their own safety and duty outweighed the call to compassion.
Finally comes the Samaritan. To the Jewish audience, he would have been the last person expected to help—an outsider, despised and distrusted. And yet, it is this stranger who stops, binds the wounds, pays the bill, and promises to return. In him we see the heart of God, who comes close to our brokenness without asking whether we deserve it.
The lesson is simple but demanding: our neighbour is anyone in need, no matter their race, religion, or background. True compassion does not remain a feeling—it takes shape in action.
Here the story of Jonah comes to mind. Jonah ran from God’s call because he did not want to show mercy to foreigners. But God saved him from the belly of the fish and sent him again, teaching him that His mercy cannot be limited.
Jesus says the same to us: “Go and do likewise.” To love as God loves means crossing boundaries, taking risks, and making our compassion real.
‘Being the field hospital’
Pope Francis warns us of the danger of following a "passer-by" culture when interpreting the parable of the Samaritan. Our society is such that individuals often overlook the needs of their neighbours as they pass by. We must take a moment to observe and respond to the hardships of those in our midst.
The worst insult to a Jew was to call him "pagan." To address them as a "Samaritan" was equivalent to calling them "bastard," "renegade," or "heretic.” The Samaritan in the parable is in hostile territory in Judea. But, seeing the dying man on the roadside, he loses his mind; he forgets everything and opts to reach out to the wounded man.
First, 'He saw him’—everybody else saw him, but he saw him differently. The Gospel reminds us not to expect the other person to call out for assistance; perhaps they don't even have the ability to seek help. If I care for my neighbour, I must be alert because that is how God looks. Our translation says the Samaritan took the wounded man to an inn and cared for him. However, the Greek word in the text refers to not an inn, but “a place where all are welcome” without restrictions.
Today, we are the wounded persons on the wayside, and the Samaritan is Jesus. He drew near us, cared for us, and paid for us. He gave the two denarii - the two-day wages - to the innkeeper, promising to return on the third day. The ‘third day’ is the day of the Lord’s return. And he tells the innkeeper: “If you need more when I come back, I will pay”. In this passage, there is the whole Gospel.
‘The place where all are welcomed’ is the Church to which the Lord entrusts all the people in distress to care for. That is why Pope Francis calls the Church a “field hospital”, where all are attended to and cared for, and no one is rejected. We share the mission of Christ to be the Samaritan and the mission of the Church to be the ‘field hospital.’