Go And Do Likewise

We start with a riddle posed in our first reading from Deuteronomy.  Moses said: "For this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky, that you should say, 'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?' Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?...” 

The question is: “What is ‘it?" What’s not up in the sky or across the sea, but is very near to us?   We are given a clue, “It’s already in our mouths and in our hearts.”

The answer is love of God and our neighbor.  It’s provided in our Gospel according to Luke: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  

That’s Jesus’ greatest commandment.  It’s not an easy commandment to obey. In fact, it can be downright impossible. Perhaps that’s why so many people, maybe most people, pay it little to no mind. It’s an ideal attitude and behavior to which we should strive, such as always being a good Samaritan helping those in desperate need.

Here’s an example of how to love God with all our heart, being, strength,, and mind.  Once upon a time a father yelled at his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive, gold, wrapping paper.  He had been out of work for a while, and money was tight so he got very angry when she tried to decorate a gift box.  She cut pieces of the paper to paste on the box.

To the father’s surprise, his little girl brought the gift to him the next morning. With big, round eyes, she looked up at him and said, "This is for you, Daddy."  Needless to say, he was embarrassed for being angry the previous day, but his anger flared again when he discovered that the box was empty.  He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside the box?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty.  I blew kisses into the box until it was full. All for you, Daddy.”  Her father was crushed.  He put his arms around his little girl and asked for her forgiveness.

A tragic accident took the life of his daughter only a short time later.  It is told that the father kept that gold box by his bed for all the years of his life.  And whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

This is a story about love and kisses.  It’s a story about experiencing God – the love of God.    The depth of the daughter’s love for her father is love from her heart, being, strength, and mind.

The father, taking his daughter’s kisses out of that gift box every time he needed encouragement, was love from his heart, soul, and mind.  The father and the daughter never had to say I believe in God, or I love God.  Their love for each other was God’ presence made real through spoken words, loving embraces, and kisses.  It was God experienced as the love between them.

We should all give someone we love an empty box full of kisses. That’s all it will take to show we’ve fallen in love with God with our hearts, souls, and minds.

But what about our neighbors – surely no kisses for them.  The last part of our Gospel is about the Samaritan traveler who helped the man who fell victim to robbers.  He poured wine and oil over the traveler’s wounds and bandaged them. He brought this stranger to the inn and cared for him.  He paid for the stranger’s care.  He showed mercy.

Have we any recent examples of mercy to travelers? There are many and one stands out – that being the reaction of good Samaritans to nationwide raids planned for this weekend and expected arrests of thousands of undocumented immigrants, that according to yesterday’s Boston Globe, “have caused many to retreat to the shadows in fear.”

Many city and police officials have said they would have no role in helping ICE detain immigrants.  The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition is working on this and related issues.  Many citizens are offering assistance and mercy.

The Globe told of Rosa, a 42-year old Guatemalan woman living with her 20-year-old daughter who were both terrified and didn’t know if they should go to work. Rosa said to her daughter, “Ask God for help.  Only God can protect us.” Her daughter said she didn’t what to go on the street for fear that ICE would take her away to return her to Guatemala where she and her mother fled drug dealers.

It appears there is a shortage of mercy on our Mexican border with travelers, immigrants, men, women, and children seeking safety and refuge being held in cages where they suffer.  We’ve all seen the pictures and news coverage.

Today’s Gospel has Jesus say to us, “Go and do likewise.”  Jesus means showing mercy to strangers – our neighbors.   Can we honestly say we will?

Deacon David Pierce
Sunday's 5:30 PM Homily