Read: (Dt 30:10-14):
The Commandments of God are written in our hearts, as natural law. Christ is the Firstborn who models for us how to live God’s Law. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us how to put God’s commandment to practice.
Reflect:
When the Samaritan saw the wounded man, he was moved with compassion. The Greek word used for this being moved with compassion is “splagchnizomai.” This word, according to theologian James Allison, is “the parable’s bombshell.” The noun form “splagchna” was used in Greek literature to designate the inner parts (bowels) of a blood sacrifice. When the heart was cut out during a sacrificial ritual, it was called
a splagchna. It later became a generic term for the inner organs. Hence, using the word to refer to being moved implies a gut-wrenching reaction. In other words, the compassion of the Samaritan is not a reasoned-out, calculated decision based on an analysis of pros and cons, but an innate, spontaneous reaction emerging from his entrails, which moves him into action. “Go and do the same” is an invitation to make
empathic compassion one’s core nature.
Pray:
Pray for the grace of empathy—the capacity to be moved by the needs of others.
Act:
Do any one of the fourteen works of mercy, as taught by the Church