“The biggest disease today is not leprosy, or cancer. It’s the feeling of being uncared for or unwanted, of being deserted and alone. The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, and an indifference toward one’s neighbour who may be the victim of poverty or disease or exploited and, at the end of his life, left at a roadside” (Mother Teresa).
As we read today’s Gospel, the parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), let us reflect on what it means to be a Christian. Being made in God’s image and likeness must lead us to say, as Paul said: “I live now no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). If Christ truly lives in us we would not pass on the other side and leave the poor, the vulnerable, and the socially excluded to fend for themselves.
On July 5, the Holy See presented Pope Francis’ first encyclical entitled Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith) – signed on June 29, the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul. It is divided into four parts with an introduction and conclusion. It is largely written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and completed by Pope Francis.
Zenit reports Archbishop Fisichella as saying that “Benedict XVI was asked to write an encyclical on faith, given that his previous works were on love and hope… he decided to begin working on it and release it towards the end of the Year of Faith. However, history took a different turn and this encyclical is now offered to us by Pope Francis, as a ‘programme for how to continue to live this Year of Faith’…”
The following extracts from the official summary relate specifically to the issue of demonstrating love for our neighbour. “Lumen Fidei underlines the link between faith and love, understood not as ‘an ephemeral emotion’ but as God’s great love which transforms us within and grants us new eyes with which we may see reality… faith renders the believer humble and leads to co-existence with and respect for others… ‘The Christian can see with the eyes of Jesus and share in His mind, His filial disposition, because he or she shares in His love, which is the Spirit’ … Christians are ‘one’ without losing their individuality and in the service of others they come into their own … God is light and can be found also by those who seek him with a sincere heart. Anyone who sets off on the path of doing good to others is already drawing near to God…
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“The light of Jesus shines on the face of Christians and spreads in this way, is transmitted by contact like a flame that ignites from another, and passes from generation to generation, through the uninterrupted chain of witnesses to the faith … it is ‘impossible to believe on our own’, because faith is not ‘an individual decision’, but rather opens ‘I’ to ‘we’ and always occurs ‘within the community of the Church’. Therefore, ‘those who believe are never alone’, as he/she discovers that the spaces of the self enlarge and generate new relations that enrich life.
“Chapter Four explains the link between faith and the common good, which leads to the creation of a place in which men and women may live together with others. Faith, which is born of the love of God, strengthens the bonds of humanity and places itself at the service of justice, rights and peace. This is why it does not distance itself from the world and is not unrelated to the real commitments of contemporary man.
“On the contrary, without the love of God in which we can place our trust, the bonds between people would be based only on utility, interests and fear. Instead faith grasps the deepest foundation of human relationships, their definitive destiny in God, and places them at the service of the common good. Faith ‘is for all, it is a common good’; its purpose is not merely to build the hereafter but to help in edifying our societies in order that they may proceed together towards a future of hope.”
As we read today’s Gospel, let God’s love for humanity transform us so that we will stand in solidarity with those on the margins of society. In the same way that Christ was self-giving, so we should also give of ourselves – selflessly, to build the common good: to create conditions in which each person can realise his/her potential. The parable of the Good Samaritan should spur us on to achieve our goal of building the civilisation of love.
As I close, I point to the section in the fourth chapter of Lumen Fidei which “considers those areas illuminated by faith: first and foremost, the family based on marriage, understood as a stable union between man and woman”. As many around the world seek to redefine marriage and the family, let us pray that God’s plan for us will prevail.
