Good morning, everyone.

Great blessings to be with you again this morning. This would be my last time being here for a little bit because I’m heading back to California tomorrow to continue to discern with a group of monks out there in beautiful Berkeley, California. Some people have it rough, I guess. Right. But we’ll see how that goes. I promise you, I will be back later this year. And for those you’ve known a little bit about my journey, I continue to appreciate all of the prayers and support.

You know, today we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s perhaps one of the most famous parables of Jesus. It’s one that has impacted us on many levels. It’s even in our secular laws. We all know about Good Samaritan laws when someone attempts to help someone out of the goodness of their heart, and even if they kind of mess it up, they’re protected.

Today’s gospel is unique.

Unique in the sense that you only find this particular story in Luke.

It does not appear in the other synoptic gospels, nor does it appear in John.

And so you ask, well, why would Luke put this story in?

What was he aiming at? Well, many scholars would tell us that the best way to understand the Gospel of Luke is to look at the Magnificat, the prayer of Mary when she goes to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. And in that prayer, as Mary offers praise to God for the blessings that she has received, he makes part of the prayer, an understanding of what God is in the process of doing.

Why do we call human life sacred? It is an extraordinary word, yet I often use it without a passing thought. It is far more than saying that human life is precious, or non-negotiable or even invaluable. Sacred means holy, relating to God. How can we say that? If we believe it, what must we do? The tradition of the Church will tell us why our lives are sacred and todays Gospel will show us what to do about it. 

We read in the book of Genesis: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. (Ge 1:27). Jews and Christians have taken this very seriously and sought to understand what it means to be created in the image of God. Catholics have emphasized that God has revealed himself to us as the “Trinity”. Three persons in one being bound together by love. God is least badly understood as a community even a family. Therefore, we are created to be in relationship with God but also with each other. To paraphrase a key Church teaching: “a human person is not a solitary but a social being, and unless men and women relate themselves to others, they can neither live nor develop their potential” (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 12).