The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Gal. 5:14).
Love according to
Jesus and love according to our culture which surrounds us today are
totally opposite. If a person does not struggle everyday with much
prayer and meditation on the Word seeking to live the Word together
with other true Christians, very easily, rather, automatically, one
slides into the mentality of this world which takes advantage of
others with hidden and disguised egoism.
This altruistic
love, instead of (false!) “love” of
egoism, is exemplified by the story of the
good Samaritan. The path of a new humanity is that which passes by
way of the transformation of the heart, from indifference to
recognizing the other, to take care of the brother that needs us.
Because the God that we love and in which we place all our trust is
like this: God is the One Who has compassion for man, He is the One
Who in Jesus made Himself neighbor to each of His creatures.
Jesus concludes
the story by ordering, “Go and do likewise”. Here Jesus does not
reassert a law. It is instead a proclamation of the Gospel: in Him,
the Samaritan, God took care of me and loved me; because I too,
healed from my illness, might love Him with all my heart and the
brothers as myself. If in fact, Jesus is the Word which became close
so that one might put the Word into practice, then to be the neighbor
is no longer, for anyone, a distant goal, unrealistic or
unattainable. If Jesus, the Samaritan, took care of me and loved me,
I too can love God and neighbor, I too can show my solidarity with
those who are in trouble. And one really loves the neighbor if one
looks at him with the eyes of God
- - - - - - -
An Experience of Life:
One day the
house keys, the salary of the husband and other valuables
disappeared. Who was it? The author of the theft must have been
someone close to the family ... This caused great suffering for Mirta
Zanella (Argentina), so much so that she could not even pray. Then,
remembering that Jesus invites us to forgive, she forgave, even the
person who robbed her. After a few days it became known that a lady
in distress who begged for alms in the area and with whom she had for
some time a cordial relationship, stole from a neighbor's house:
while she threatened the woman with a gun, her husband carried off
the stolen goods. Even Mirta, some time later, received from this
woman serious threats and to defend herself called the police. The
woman was arrested and convicted for various crimes and sentenced to
17 years in prison.
In the months following
Mirta’s husband suggested to her to visit
this woman in prison. "In no way!", she responded also
because she was afraid ... Shortly after a new request: this time it
was a priest of the parish, who proposed to go with a group of other
ladies to the women's prison, where, among others, was imprisoned the
woman who robbed her. A little confused, Mirta accepted, remembering
the words of the Gospel: "Go therefore and learn what this
means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice." She went with the
group, to the prison and at the conclusion of the Mass she saw the
woman. It was a moment: she decided to greet her with a hug. Mirta
recounted: "She began crying and asked forgiveness. I told her
that the Lord had already forgiven her and I too had forgiven her.
She asked me to pray for her children and I promised her I would."
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