Call of the Good Samaritan & the Response of the Beatitudes

Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services are familiar Catholic organizations who’s valuable, lifesaving programs are being put in a position of peril. People in difficult situations around the world depend on these lifesaving services, for food, health, and safety, in their daily lives. The effects are destabilizing to people and families who rely on the assistance of these organizations, government programs, and humanitarian aid to our domestic and global neighbors. Our desire as followers of Jesus Christ is to look at a response based in the Gospel and nonviolence.

In his letter to the US Catholic Bishops regarding the immigration crisis, Pope Francis suggested praying with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Maybe, the “Good Samaritan”, this maligned do-gooder, could be our guide. Recently, Susan Windley-Daoust prayerfully reflected on Jesus’ response: “You left them bleeding by the roadside...”   “They are unable to move themselves...”   

I encourage us to reflect on this parable of the Good Samaritan with Pope Francis: https://www.usccb.org/resources/Scripture-Meditation-Pope-Francis-and-the-Parable-of-the-Good-Samaritan.pdf .

How do you think the person victimized by violence and saved by the mercy of a stranger felt when he realized what had happened? Do you think he was surprised by where he was? By the care given to him? By who funded his care? 

“Wounded and incapacitated”, describes so many of our young people, homeless, single parents, migrants, those in generational systemic poverty, those without God in their lives, those who have lost loved ones’ support, those who’s lives have been disrupted by violence, those who have lost hope..., these are the victims of this culture of violence. Am I walking by on the other side of the road? Do I feel untouched by the scope of this violence? As I walk this road who will be there to help me if I am beset by robbers and thieves?  

In the parable, at the end of their conversation, Jesus asked the scholar a question. Did the scholar get it? Yes, he got the “moral of the story”. And then Jesus gave him the answer of a lifetime....Lk 10:37. 

So how do we respond with compassion and mercy to those left bleeding by the roadside of this economic slashing? Let’s look at the Beatitudes. Parishioner Amy Hocraffer reflected on a recent Nonviolence retreat here in Rochester:  “Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount can seem remote and passive, just describing various types of people and the afterlife blessings they'll receive. The retreat encouraged us to reframe the Beatitudes as commands for daily living, directing us to take action and live in a way that makes us one of the blessed ones Jesus lists. What would change in your life if you read the Beatitudes as calling you, personally, to be a peacemaker? To feed the hungry in our community? To stand in solidarity with the poor and marginalized? 

The non-violent actions Jesus takes are not passive nor waiting for others to make the first move; they are proactive, intentional actions. When he is offered the chance to condemn the woman accused of adultery, he instead asks her accusers to consider their own sins, leading to a peaceful outcome. When Peter draws his sword and cuts off a man's ear in the garden at Gethsemane, Jesus stops him and heals the man. To follow Jesus' path of nonviolence requires us to work for peace--in our home, in our community, and in the world. Together, we can help make the kingdom of heaven here on earth, as Jesus commanded.” 

Marty Roers, Director of Justice for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and a former Maryknoll lay missioner, reflected with us at the nonviolence retreat on “possible Beatitudes of Nonviolence”. We are honored (Blessed) and called to rise up and do something. Can we give up our power and privilege to become “poor in spirit” standing in solidarity with those poor and marginalized who make up the Kingdom? Can we mourn with those who suffer bringing consolation, love and support? Can we rise up in our hunger and thirst for right relationships to be filled with creative nonviolent reconciliation? Can we stand, like the Good Samaritan, with others in mercy? Can we have the heart to see God in everyone and go forth as an active peacemaker? Can we get into “good trouble” for the poor and marginalized? Can we rejoice now and be people of joy knowing the fruits of our actions will be God’s reign of peace, bringing forth the Kingdom in nonviolence, and right relationships with ALL people? 

We face a world where humanitarian programs become the enemy and defunding is the weapon. WE can share in the nonviolent way of the prophets and peacemakers before us by living the Beatitudes in our actions for justice on behalf of our neighbors, and all creation, here at home and around the world!