The Samaritan

Monday, July 6, 2020

Victor Martell - St. Vincent de Paul Society

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One of the Gospels that always gets my attention is found in Luke 10, when Jesus is in the temple and tells the doctors of the law the parable that we all know as the Good Samaritan.

It is true that the role of our volunteers in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is to follow faithfully what Matthew 25 says about the Last Judgment: God will ask us to account for our actions toward those who are defenseless. But the words of the Teacher convey a great lesson that reflects the attitude that all Christians should assume toward our neighbors when they suffer misfortune.

We must take it as an example and adapt it to our times. When two Jewish men passed by, one of them a priest and another a man who helped in the temple, they turned around and left, leaving the poor man in his loneliness and abandonment.

That is how many people act today, and unfortunately many who call themselves Christians. They turn their face away when a beggar approaches at a traffic light. They turn their face away when children are separated from their parents because they are undocumented. They turn their face away when they see a single mother struggling to feed her children. They turn their face away when they can offer a job. They turn their face away when there are elderly people who do not have enough to eat. I can give you hundreds of examples like that. They assume the same attitude as those who belonged to the temple at that time.

However, a man from the region of Samaria, a foreigner, not considered a nice person in those days, comes and helps the needy. He bandages the wounds and, most importantly, shows the stranger that he is not alone, that there is a person who loves his neighbor as he loves himself, and helps him personally and financially.

That should be the way of the true Vincentian, and of every Christian. Do not judge anyone, because that is what God is for; and help even if they criticize you, no matter the person’s race, skin color or if the person is a foreigner, because in the end, we all are foreigners in one way or another. The only truly native are the indigenous, born for generations in this country. But that is another story.

Notice that Jesus gave that example when they asked what they should do to obtain eternal life. Let us hope that when we are done here and face Him, we have done like the Good Samaritan, loving our brothers and sisters. And may they feel that they are not alone in this life.