User’s Guide to Sunday, July 13
Sunday, July 13, is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37 or Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37.
One could easily reduce the Gospel to trite moralisms: Help people in trouble; be kind to strangers; etc. While these are certainly good, it is about far deeper things than human kindness or ethics. This is a Gospel about the transformative power of God’s love and our need to receive it.
There is a very important phrase in the parable that must not be missed, for it gives the key to the Samaritan man’s actions: “[He] was moved.” Note that the verb “was moved” is in the passive voice. That is to say, it was not so much that he acted, but that he was acted upon.
Why is this so important? Because it indicates for us the power of the gift of grace. So many of our fears about what God asks and what love demands are rooted in the idea that we must accomplish them out of our own flesh. No, that is not the Gospel. In the New Covenant, the keeping of the law is received, not achieved. The keeping of the commandments is a work of God within us to which we yield. To keep the commandments and to fulfill the law is the result of love, not the cause of it.
But for us, the teaching must be clearly understood: Our receiving and experiencing love is and must be the basis of our keeping of the law.
Experiencing and receiving God’s love for us equips, empowers and enables us to respond joyfully, not fearfully.
Love lightens every load. When we love God and love other people, we want to do what love requires. Even if there are difficulties that must be overcome, love makes us eager to respond anyway. It “moves” us to be generous, kind, merciful, patient and even extravagant. We don’t do what we do because we have to, but because we want to.
The Samaritan in this story was “moved” with and by love to overcome race, nation, fear and danger. He generously gave his time and money to save a brother and fellow traveler.
Let love lift you. Let it empower you, equip you and enable you! Go to the Lord and pray for a deeper experience of his love. Open the door of your heart and let the love of God in. Go to the foot of the cross and remember what the Lord has done for you. Let what he has done be so present in your mind and heart that you are grateful and different. Let God’s love come alive in you.
Today’s Gospel is not a mere moralism. The main point is that we must let the Lord’s love into our hearts. If we do, we will do what love does, and we will do it extravagantly — not because we have to, but because we want to.
The grace of love equips us for every good work.