“And then to whom will all these piled-up Hummels go?"

“And the rich man said: `I will build

bigger barns and bins.’” (Lk. 12:18)

 “And then to whom will all

these piled-up Hummels go?”

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 4, 2013 

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23     Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11    Luke 12:13-21

2nd reading from Colossians 3:5

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed, for greediness is a form of idol worship.  

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord. 

 

A greedy rich man
 

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,  "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then He said to the crowd, "Beware of greed in all its forms. Life that is real and meaningful doesn't depend on a person's possessions."

Then He told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my

barns and bins, and I shall build bigger barns and bins. There I shall store all my grain and all my other possessions. Then I shall say to myself, `Now good man, you have possessions stored up for you for many years to come. Relax, eat, drink and make merry!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and then to whom will all your piled up wealth go?’ This is what happens to the man who is greedy and hoards things for himself, and is not rich in the eyes of God.[1]”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction

Barns and bins, and senior citizens

`Barns and bins’ resonates greatly with senior citizens who remember the days when food did not come from supermarkets but from barns and bins. For senior citizens barns and bins are filled with the images and emotions of an abundant fall harvest. They carry the good smell of apples, onions and grain. Barns and bins burst at the seams with cobs of corn for cattle, and with potatoes and pumpkins for people. For senior citizens barns and bins are filled with sugar loafs of grains, to be ground into flour and baked into the staff of life. They suggest the crispness of fall drying up the sweat of summer toil and toning life down to winter’s pace. Barns and bins speak of autumn’s bounty snuggly stored away against the long and sparse winter night ahead. For senior citizens barns and bins bear a stark but also a snug feeling. For a younger generation, however, who has no idea of barns and bins loaded with a hard-earned harvest, there are only supermarkets filled with an easy abundance.

The Pilgrim Fathers, grateful for the harvest, declared a day to be set aside for Thanksgiving. Their barns and bins were full not only of God’s blessings, but filled also with their thanks. In today’s parable a greedy rich farmer desecrates the sacred image of barns and bins, as he plans to store not God’s blessings in them but his greed!

On second reading

A quick reading of today’s parable seems to frown on those who “relax, eat, drink and make merry.” On second reading, however, the parable does not frown on those who “relax, eat, drink and make merry.” Rather, it frowns on those who spend so much time and effort in building bigger barns and bins that they don’t have time to “relax, eat, drink and make merry.” It frowns on those who spend so much time at making a living that they don’t have time to live. It frowns on a poor rich farmer who died before he lived.

An `unremarkable’ reading of the parable

Parables are literary instruments which give a reader a lot of freedom.  One can give today’s parable `a hammed-up’ reading: the rich farmer is a miserly old Scrooge - “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner.[2]” When `hammed-up’, the parable doesn’t bear much of a message for us, for most of us aren’t miserly old Scrooges. Or one can give the parable an `unremarkable’ reading, presupposing nothing gross at all, and then it can become a parable about all of us.

An `unremarkable’ and not `hammed-up’ reading of today’s parable reminds me of an old spinster named Anna whom I knew many years ago. A hairdresser by trade, she was a true German who put her nose to the grind, worked hard and was very thrifty. She didn't grossly deprive herself, but neither did she live it up. With religious regularity she deposited all her bucks in bins called banks. All the while, she had in mind the day when she would be able to say to herself: "Now good Anna, you have possessions stored up for you for many years to come. Relax, eat, drink and make merry!" 

But alas, one day the circulation in her foot stopped, gangrene set in, her leg was amputated, and she was carried off to a nursing home where eventually she died. To whom did all her piled up wealth go?  It went to the nursing home industry, which ate up her life-long savings in a very short time. That’s an `unremarkable’ reading of the parable which hits home more powerfully than a `hammed-up’ one.

Conclusion

A collection of 400 Hummels!

Here is a story about a couple who died and left behind barns and bins bursting with stuff.[3]

In the rural upper Midwest, it seems every other person has a barn full of old tires, old brakes, a trailer, dozens of tools gathering rust, coffee cans loaded with lug nuts and screws. Ed and Edna’s place is pretty typical. Edna’s cupboards, bureaus, cabinets, garage, attic and spare bedroom have been crammed full of things that define her. ("Oh, you know Edna Furbelow," says her neighbor, "she collected Hummels.") Every once in a while, Edna took some of the clutter out to the front yard and sold it, although no one stepping inside her house ever knew the difference.

Edna has died, and it’s too bad she’s not here, because there’s something very sobering about the estate sale. Absent the owners, the items lose their meaning, so that even Ed and Edna’s kids and closest friends think: “My God, there’s a lot of stuff here! What a lot of junk!” The agent, who doesn’t want to haul it away, has priced everything low: books go for 50 cents, a big set of plates for a few bucks. Here is an old rusty bicycle from the Eisenhower era and a once-prized lamp that now seems hideous. Set out on the green grass outside the barn, Ed’s band saw and drill press (his pride and joy) appear headed for retirement.

Now the auctioneer calls out Lot 152 - a collection of 400 Hummels! 400 Hummels! Eyes roll and knowing smiles break out, but no one bids. The auctioneer looks at the estate agent, the agent looks at Edna’s oldest daughter: a lifetime’s hobby and a person’s identity have come to this! One can almost hear Jesus asking, “And then to whom will all these piled-up Hummels go?”

---

[1]The rich man in today’s parable is stuck on himself, as he says “I” or “my” 12 times.

[2]  From `A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens

[3] The following story is taken basically from a chapter entitled A Lot of Junk in his book One Hundred Tons of Ice by United Methodist pastor Rev. Lawrence Wood.
 

 

The Prayer of Petition

Knocking at a friend’s house at midnight, and asking

For three loaves of bread to feed a sudden visitor (Lk. 11:5)

The Prayer of Petition

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 28, 2013

Genesis 18:20-32     Colossians 2:12-14     Luke 11:1-13

 Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord.

The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not put us to the test.”

Persistence in prayer

Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight and tell him, `Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I don’t have anything to give him to eat.’ And suppose your friend should answer from inside, `Don’t bother me! The door is already locked for the night, and my kids and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I tell you if he doesn’t get up to give the man the loaves he wants because they are friends, he will get up to give him the bread because of the man’s persistence.

So I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive. And the one who seeks will find. And for the one who knocks the door will be opened. 

What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction

Tempus fugit!

By week’s end another page will have fallen off the 2013 calendar. August will soon be upon us, and year 2013 is rolling on. Tempus fugit!

A parable about persistence in our Prayer of Petition

The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father, is the best known prayer in all Christianity. Despite all the differences which divide the many Christian denominations, at the end of the day we are all united by the prayer of prayers: “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

After Jesus gives us this prayer of prayers - the Our Father - He launches off into a parable about persistence in prayer. The parable likens God to a dad who’s snug in bed with his kids, and is inconveniently awakened at midnight by a friend who keeps on knocking at his door. A visitor has suddenly dropped in on his friend, and he’s in an embarrassing situation: he has no bread to feed his hungry friend. Though the sleepy man is reluctant to get out of his warm bed in the middle of the night and go downstairs to help his friend out, he does so not only because he is the man’s friend but also because the man is persistent as he keeps on  knocking at his door. After getting rid of his good friend by giving him the three loaves he asked for, he bolts the door, and hurries back up to his warm bed and sleeping kids. It’s a parable about persistence in our Prayer of Petition – our prayer that begs God for something.

Another parable about persistence in prayer

Luke likes the theme of persistence in prayer; it’s found also in the 18^th chapter of his gospel. There Luke has Jesus telling another parable about persistence in prayer.

There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected men. And there was a widow in the same town who kept coming to the judge, asking him to take her case. He kept putting her off, but he finally gave in exclaiming, “This woman is driving me crazy!  I’ll take her case; if I don’t, she’ll keep coming back and finally wear me out!” (Lk. 18:1-5)

`Someone’ instead of `something’

There is a notable variance in this Sunday’s parable as found in Matthew and in Luke. In Matthew the parable ends with Jesus saying, "If you, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mt. 7:11)  In Matthew God is a kind of Santa Claus who gives his children the good things they ask for.

In Luke, however, the parable has a mysterious and unexpected ending as Jesus says, “If you, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Lk. 11:13) There’s no Santa Claus image of God here; we ask God for a fish or an egg, but He doesn’t give us the fish or egg we ask for. He gives us, instead, the Holy Spirit whom we didn’t ask for! We ask for `something’ and instead we get `Someone’- the Holy Spirit!

The problematic Prayer of Petition

The Prayer of Petition is problematic. Along our journey we’ve earnestly asked God for something, but it was not granted. We’ve begged God to cure a loved one, but the loved one wasn’t cured. We’ve pleaded with God to lift a mountainous problem from our shoulders or from the shoulders of someone we love, and cast it into the sea, but it’s still weighing heavily upon us or our loved one. (Lk. 17:6)  We’ve beseeched God to release a loved one from some bondage, but he or she is still in bondage. In hard economic time we’ve prayed earnestly to God for a job, but we’re still unemployed, and unemployment in a capitalist society is a great disaster.

On top of the heap of `unanswered prayers’ stands the Holocaust. We remember (because we can’t forget) that six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald earnestly implored the Lord God of Israel to deliver them from history’s most notorious maniac and anti-Semite - Adolph Hitler, and they were not delivered! 

The Prayer of Petition is indeed problematic, and most of the time we’re simply `too pious’ to have a frank and open discussion about it.

A more profound understanding 

When Luke has Jesus saying, “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” is he perhaps offering us a more profound understanding of the Prayer of Petition?  Could he possibly mean that in response to our Prayer of Petition the Father in heaven does not give something: a fish, an egg, a cure, a job, a deliverance, etc. (Those things we must strive as best we can to give ourselves.) Rather, the Father in heaven gives us Someone - his Holy Spirit!

A friend writes:

When you speak that way, you are really speaking to us about the poverty of God who comes to us so poor that He has nothing to give us but Himself: his Holy Spirit. And when we receive Him in that poverty, God becomes human and we become divine. When you speak that way you are leading us into deep waters and into the darkness of God. You are inviting us to leave our playgrounds. You are asking us to stop being kids whose God is a Santa Claus. You are inviting us to follow you into the river of rebirth.

 

The very power to forgive God’s sins!

To say that heaven perhaps does not give us something but `only’ Someone  (the Holy Spirit) in our Prayer of Petition should not shock us. To be given `only’ the Holy Spirit is not to be given nothing or very little.  With the Holy Spirit of God, we have whatever we need for the human journey. With the Holy Spirit we have not only the power to forgive men’s sins against God (Jn. 20: 23) but we have also the very power to forgive God’s sins against man!

What in the world are God’s sins against man? That’s God not opening the door when we are frantically knocking away at it. That’s God not working the miracle we’re ardently praying for. That’s God not being a good Santa Claus giving his children the things they ask for: a fish, an egg, a cure, a job, a deliverance. That’s God not giving us something but `only’ Someone: his Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

The power to want the things we get!

At the end of the day, whatever might be our theology or our feeling about the Prayer of Petition, we still keep knocking at God’s door when we’re in dire need, because Jesus said we should. We still keep knocking at God’s door also because in our frustration or need or anxiety we need to be pounding away at something, and it might just as well be at God’s door.  And if the door is opened, and we’re given the thing we asked for (the fish, the egg, the cure, the job, the deliverance) God be praised and thanked.

If, however, when the door is opened, we are not given the fish or egg but are given instead `only’ the Holy Spirit, God be praised and thanked for that too. For though we don’t get the things we want, with the Holy Spirit we are given the power to want the things we get! And that’s power indeed! And that’s probably what Luke’s mysterious and unexpected switch from fish and egg to Holy Spirit is all about.

 

On Keeping Life Simple

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing only is necessary.” (Lk.10:41-42)

On Keeping Life Simple

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 21, 2013

Genesis 18:1-10   Colossians 1:24-28  Luke 10:38-42

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord.

 
As they went on their way Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister named Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing only is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, and it shall not be taken from her.” (Lk. 10:38-42)

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------------

Introduction

Not very new anymore

We are in the 3^rd Sunday of the 7^th month of 2013. The new year of 2013 is rolling on, and suddenly it isn’t very new anymore.  

Woman `knowing her place’

St. Luke who is writing for educated readers of the Roman Empire wants to assure them that the new religion is no threat to their patriarchal society – a society where a woman is expected to`know her place.’ Today’s gospel portrays Mary as one who `knows her place.’ She is content with her passive role of sitting and listening to Jesus. And Jesus praises her: “Mary has chosen the better part.” On the other hand Jesus scolds Martha: “You are busy about many things, but only one thing is necessary.” Scholars believe that Jesus’ praise of Mary who `knows her place’ as she sits passively and wordlessly at the Lord’s feet is not so much Jesus’ praise of Mary but St. Luke’s praise of her. For Luke wants to tread carefully in a patriarchal society where a woman is expected to `know her place.’

Malala indeed `knows her place.’

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager, does, indeed, `know her place.’ On 9^th of October, 2012, the Taliban shot her on the left side of her forehead because she campaigned for girls' education. In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition. Later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation.

Less than a year after being brutally attacked by the Taliban, Malala spoke at the United Nations on Friday, July 12^th 2013, her 16^th birthday. She said the "terrorists thought that they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this -- weakness, fear and hopelessness died, strength, power and courage was born." Youth delegates at the United Nations stood up, gave her a standing ovation and sang happy birthday to Malala – a woman who indeed `knows her place.’

A literal translation

In today’s gospel Martha is out in the kitchen cooking up a storm, and Mary is in the parlor sitting with others (mostly men) at the feet of Jesus, and she’s drinking in his words. Martha in the kitchen needs help and grows angry by the minute. So she breaks into the parlor, and with undisguised agitation says to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to come and help me.” Instead of chiding Mary, Jesus turns the tables and chides Martha. “Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing only is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part and it shall not be taken away from her."  

This is a literal translation of the original Greek, and it’s not very enlightening. It is in fact rather vague. It has Jesus saying, “One thing only is necessary.” But what precisely is that “one thing only” that’s necessary? And it has Jesus saying, “Mary has chosen the better part.” But what is that “better part” that Mary has chosen?

 The traditional understanding of this passage sees Martha as an example of the active life and Mary as an example of the contemplative life. And it affirms the superiority of the contemplation over action. That traditional, understanding can be `blamed’ on Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604).

An interpretative translation

There is, however, an interpretative translation of the original Greek, which clarifies the vagueness of this passage with quaint and folksy language, and which makes the passage come alive with a simple but meaningful message.  It goes like this:  

As they went on their way Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister named Mary who sat on the floor listening to Jesus as He spoke. But Martha, who was the jittery type, was worrying about the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister isn’t lifting a finger to help me? Tell her to get out into the kitchen where she belongs and give me a helping hand.”

But the Lord said to her, “Martha, Martha, dear friend, you are fussing so much in the kitchen preparing so many dishes. Keep life simple!  Only one dish is necessary [a good pot of baked beans or a good dish of pasta]. Mary chooses not to be fussing around preparing this and that, but to sit here and recharge herself. And I’m not going to ask her to give that up.” (Lk. 10:38-42)

Keep life simple!

Such an interpretative translation is not a lofty message about the superiority of the contemplative life over the active life. It is instead a simple and practical message which bids us to keep life simple. Keep it as simple as is possible in our complex world. Keep life simple, for a simplified life is much better than a fussed-up life. It’s true that a good part of life’s fuss is not of our own choosing, but this rendition of the Martha and Mary story encourages us to take responsibility for that part of the fuss that is of our own choosing.

Pope Francis keeps life simple.

Pope Francis keeps life simple. Before his election, one of the few things the world actually knew about Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was his penchant for simplicity. Here was a Prince of the Church who took the subway to work every day, and who lived in a modest apartment rather than the opulent archbishop’s mansion. (His Buenos Aires quarters were so Spartan that he had to leave the oven on over weekends during winter months to stay warm, because management turned off the heat.)

Francis has carried that simplicity approach into the papacy. He relies on gesture rather than elaborate pronouncement to get his point across. Instead of preaching about the priesthood at service during his Holy Thursday Mass, he visited the Casal del Marmo youth prison in northwest Rome and washed the feet of 12 inmates, including 2 young women and 2 Muslims. He visited a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity. One evening Francis felt sorry for the Swiss Guard who stood at attention every night until dawn at the door of his simple and very `unpapal' apartment in the Casa Santa Marta, and he prepared a `panino con marmallata’ (a little Italian bread roll spread with jam) for him.

Conclusion

A story for us

At the end of the day, the Martha and Mary story is for us, when the tension between action and contemplation rages within us. It’s a story for us when we are on the run too much and need to stop and make some sense out of all our running.  

The Martha and Mary story is for us, when we are exhausted and frazzled by so many things that need to be done, and are challenged to keep life simple -- as simple as is possible in a complicated world. It’s a story for us, when our frazzled lives beg us to take responsibility for that part of the frazzle over which we do have power.

Finally, the Martha and Mary story is for us, when Church or society try to keep Malalas `knowing their place’ instead of helping them to `take their place.’

A Parable about Not Stopping and Stopping

“The Samaritan did not pass the poor man by but stopped.”

A Parable about Not Stopping and Stopping

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 14, 2013
Deuteronomy 30:11-14       Colossians 1:15-20      Luke 10:25-37

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Glory to you, Lord. 

Who is my neighbor?

A certain teacher of the Law came up to Jesus and tried to trap Him. “Teacher,” he said,” what must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The man replied: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to the teacher: “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. ”But the teacher of the Law wanted to put himself in the right, so he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied with a parable:  “There was a man who was going down from Jerusalem     to Jericho, when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half-dead beside the road. A priest who happened to be going down that road saw the poor man, crossed to the other side, and passed him by. Along came a Levite who also saw the victim, crossed to the other side and passed him by. But then along came a despised Samaritan who saw the poor man and was filled with compassion. He did not pass the poor man by but stopped to pour oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then the Samaritan lifted him onto his donkey and took him to the nearest inn, where he provided for his care and cure. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins with the instruction, `Take care of him. And if the bill runs higher than that, I’ll make up the difference on my way back.’”

And Jesus concluded, “In your opinion which one of these proved himself to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who stopped and treated the poor man with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go, then, and do likewise.” (Lk. 10:25-37)

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
----------------------

Introduction

The Mother of All Parables

In Luke only are found the two most cherished of Jesus’ parables. In Luke is found the Parable of the Prodigal Son who takes his share of the inheritance, squanders it on loose living in a foreign land and then returns repentantly to the house of his father who receives him back with open arms. (Lk.15:11-32)  In Luke is found also that `mother of all parables’ -  the Parable of the Good Samaritan who stops to pour the oil of compassion upon a poor man waylaid by robbers on the road to Jericho, while a priest and a Levite (a Temple assistant) do not stop but pass right by. (Lk. l0: 25-37)  What Jesus says about the first and the greatest of all the commandments, can also be said about the Parable of the Good Samaritan:  “Upon it rest the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 22:40)

A parable that rehabilitates Samaritans

Jews regarded Samaritans as half-breeds and heretics who worshipped on Mount Gerizim instead of in the Temple in Jerusalem. (Jn. 4:20) In Jesus’ time, `Samaritan’ was a dirty name which a Jew, when angry, would call another Jew. During a heated conversation one day, some fellow Jews blurted out at Jesus: “You’re a dirty Samaritan, and you're possessed by a demon!” (Jn. 8:48) Jesus, on the other hand, chooses to swim against the current; He crafts a parable which portrays two Jews (a priest and Levite) as bad guys, and a Samaritan as a good guy. His parable does such an excellent job of rehabilitating Samaritans that down through ages `Samaritan’ has come to mean a compassionate person who stops for someone in need; the only kind of Samaritan that there is, is a good one!

Jesus crafted the Parable of the Good Samaritan because He remembered the time when on his way to Jerusalem He cured ten lepers, and only one returned to fall on his knees and give Him heartfelt thanks. Scripture says, “That man was a Samaritan.” (Lk. 17:16)  Jesus never forgot that. Neither did He forget the good experience He had with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. (Jn .4:1-42) The grateful Samaritan leper and the good Samaritan woman at the well melted away whatever Jewish prejudice Jesus had about Samaritans. 

The priest and Levite do not stop.

An age-old tendency situates the heart of morality or immorality quite totally in the area of sex. Such morality is always busy pursuing politicians and other people who have had sex affairs. On the other hand, the New Testament in general, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan in particular, situate the heart of morality not in the area of sex but in charity and compassion. Jesus crafts a parable about a Jewish priest and a Levite who commit a gross act of immorality right out there on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho: these two `religious’ fellows do not stop but walk right by a man who has been waylaid by bandits and been left half-dead.  How much more immoral than that can you get!  

The Samaritan stops.

Then along comes a Samaritan from Jerusalem. Samaritans are half-breeds and heretics in Jewish estimation. The Samaritan is in a hurry, but when he sees the half-dead man lying by the side of the road, he slams on the brakes of his busyness and stops to pour the oil of compassion upon the poor man. After treating his wounds, the Samaritan hoists the wounded man onto his donkey and hurries him off to the nearest inn. There he digs deep into his pocket to pay for the man’s care and cure. And he promises the inn-keeper that if the bill runs higher than what he has paid, he’ll make up the difference on his way back home. How much more moral than that can you get! (Lk. 10:25-37)

A pope who stops for a paralytic

On his first Easter Sunday Pope Francis was moving through an enthusiastic crowd of more than 250,000 people in St. Peter's Square following Mass. In a very poignant moment, Francis stopped the `pope mobile’ in order to cradle and kiss a paralytic boy passed to him from the crowd. The child worked hard to hug the Pope. When he succeeded, a great smile of satisfaction suffused the little boy’s face. The boy’s name is Dominic Gondreau. He is eight years old and has cerebral palsy. He is the son of Christiana and Dr. Paul Gondreau. That poignant moment of Pope Francis stopping the `the pope mobile’ to kiss little Dominic waylaid with cerebral palsy went viral: many of the major television news outlets in America showed the video images in their news reports.

A pope who stops for a hungry Swiss Guard

Pope Francis stops not only for one waylaid by cerebral palsy, he also stops for a hungry Swiss Guard. One evening Francis felt sorry for the poor Swiss Guard who stood at attention every night until dawn at the door of his simple and very `unpapal' apartment in the Casa Santa Marta. So he went and got the poor man a chair, and told him: “At least sit down and rest." The guard rolled his eyes and answered: “Santo Padre, forgive me, but I may not sit down! The regulations don’t allow that." The Pope smiled, "Oh, really? Well, I'm the Pope and I tell you to sit down." Then Francis went back to his apartment, and minutes later returned to the Swiss Guard who was still obediently seated in the chair. Francis was carrying a `panino con marmallata’ (a little Italian bread roll spread with jam) which the Pope had prepared for the hungry guard.  Before the guard could say anything, the Holy Father, exhibiting his Argentinean smile, wished the Swiss Guard "Buon appetito."

The priest’s and Levite’s blah feeling

The Jewish priest, the Levite and the Samaritan all returned home to
 Jerusalem that night. In Jericho the priest had delivered the main address at the dedication of a new synagogue there. The speech had gone very well, and everyone praised it. But at the end of the day, the priest had a blah feeling in his heart. It was the uneasy feeling of one who has not stopped for someone half-dead, but has hurried off to seek praise.  The Levite, too, had done well in Jericho that day; he got all his important errands accomplished. But he, too, at the end of the day had a blah feeling in his heart. It was the uneasy feeling of one who has not stopped for someone half-dead, but has hurried off to `more important’ errands.

Conclusion

A song singing in the Samaritan’s heart

Because he had stopped to pour the oil of compassion on someone half-dead and had taken the time and effort to get him to the nearest inn, the Samaritan arrived in Jericho late for an important business meeting which didn’t go well at all. When, however, he got home late that night, though exhausted by the encounter with the man waylaid by bandits and disappointed with the meeting which hadn’t gone well, there was a song singing deep in his heart. Just as there must have been a song singing in Pope Francis’ heart for stopping to kiss little Dominic with cerebral palsy, and for stopping to prepare a `panino con marmallata’ for the Swiss Guardguarding Pope Francis’ `unpapal' apartment in the Casa Santa Marta.