Pope at Mass in Castel Gandolfo: Let us imitate Christ, the Good Samaritan
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Sunday Mass at the Parish of St.
Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, and recalls that we are to look to the
Lord, the Good Samaritan, and reminds that when we experience God's love and
healing, we are able to offer the same consolation to others we encounter.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"Once we are healed and loved by Christ, we too can
become witnesses of His love and compassion in our world."
Pope Leo XIV gave this comforting reminder during Mass
at the papal parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo,
where he is staying for his summer vacation, as he reflected on the Parable of
the Good Samaritan.
The Pope began by expressing his joy of celebrating this
Eucharist with them, greeting all those present.
He then recalled how in this Sunday’s Gospel according to
St. Luke, "we hear one of Jesus’ most beautiful and moving parables,"
that of the Good Samaritan, a parable that he acknowledged "constantly
challenges us to think about our own lives," "troubles our dormant or
distracted consciences," and "warns us about the risk of a complacent
faith that is satisfied with the outward observance of the law but incapable of
feeling and acting with the same merciful compassion as God."
How we look at others
is what counts
The parable, Pope Leo said, is really about compassion,
telling the faithful, "how we look at others is what counts, because it
shows what is in our hearts."
"We can look and walk by, or we can look and be moved
with compassion," he said, recalling that the parable speaks to us first
about God’s way of seeing us, "so that we in turn can learn how to see
situations and people with his eyes, so full of love and compassion."
The Good Samaritan, he recalled, is really a figure of
Jesus, "the eternal Son whom the Father sent into our history precisely
because he regarded humanity with compassion and did not walk by."
"Like the man in the Gospel who was going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, humanity was descending to the depths of death,"
Pope Leo said, observing, "In our own day too, we have to confront the
darkness of evil, suffering, poverty and the riddle of death."
Healing wounds with
His love and mercy
Yet, the Holy Father reassured, "God has looked upon us
with compassion; he wanted to walk our same path and come down among us. In
Jesus, the Good Samaritan, he came to heal our wounds and to pour out upon us
the balm of his love and mercy."
He recalled how the late Pope Francis often reminded us that
God is mercy and compassion, once referred to Jesus as “the compassion of the
Father toward us,” and Saint Augustine explained that, as the Good Samaritan
who came to our aid, Jesus “wanted to be known as our neighbor. Indeed, the
Lord Jesus Christ makes us realize that he is the one who cared for the
half-dead man beaten by robbers and left on the side of the road."
"We can understand why this parable is so challenging
for each of us," he recognized. "If Christ shows us the face of a
compassionate God, then to believe in Him and to be His disciples means
allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings."
Having a heart that
is moved
The Pope said this means learning to have a heart that is
moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe
their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need.
"If we realize deep down that Christ, the Good
Samaritan, loves us and cares for us," he said, "we too will be moved
to love in the same way and to become compassionate as He is."
"Once we are healed and loved by Christ," Pope Leo
continued, "we too can become witnesses of His love and compassion in our
world."
Pope Leo XIV
celebrates Mass in Castel Gandolfo (@Vatican Media)
'Revolution of love'
With this in mind, Pope Leo insisted, "today we need
this 'revolution of love.'"
The Pope suggested that today, the road that goes down from
Jerusalem to Jericho is the road traveled by all those who descend into sin,
suffering and poverty.
"It is the road," he said, "travelled by all
those weighed down by troubles or hurt by life...," "by all who fall
down, lose their bearings and hit rock bottom...," "by all those
peoples that are stripped, robbed and pillaged, victims of tyrannical political
systems, of an economy that forces them into poverty, and of wars that kill
their dreams and their very lives."
'What can we do?'
Thus, the Holy Father asked, "What do we
do?"
"Do we look and walk by, or do we open our hearts to
others, like the Samaritan? Are we content at times merely to do our duty, or
to regard as our neighbor only those who are part of our group, who think like
us, who share our same nationality or religion?"
He then recalled that "Jesus overturns this way of
thinking by presenting us with a Samaritan, a foreigner or heretic, who acts as
a neighbor to that wounded man," "and He asks us to do the
same."
Benedict: 'Jesus
turns whole matter on its head'
The Samaritan, wrote Benedict XVI in Jesus of
Nazareth, Pope Leo quoted, "'does not ask how far his obligations of
solidarity extend. Nor does he ask about the merits required for eternal life.
Something else happens: his heart is wrenched open... If the question had been,
‘Is the Samaritan my neighbor, too?’ the answer would have been a pretty
clear-cut no, given the situation at the time.'
"'But Jesus,'" Pope Benedict writes, "'now
turns the whole matter on its head: the Samaritan, the foreigner, makes himself
the neighbor and shows me that I have to learn to be a neighbor deep within and
that I already have the answer in myself. I have to become like someone in
love, someone whose heart is open to being shaken up by another’s
need.'"
Let us imitate
Christ
"Looking without walking by, halting the frantic pace
of our lives, allowing the lives of others, whoever they may be, with their
needs and troubles, to touch our heart," the Holy Father reasoned,
"is what makes us neighbors to one another, what generates true fraternity
and breaks down walls and barriers. In the end, love prevails and proves more
powerful than evil and death."
Finally, Pope Leo XIV gave this invitation: "Let us
look to Christ, the Good Samaritan. Let us listen again today to His voice. For
He says to each of us, 'Go and do likewise.'”
Pope Leo XIV
celebrates Mass in Castel Gandolfo (@Vatican Media)
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