July 10 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: What We Must Do

 

 

First Reading  Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Moses reminds the people that God's commandments are not remote but are alreadyin their hearts.

 

Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 69:14,17,30-31,36-37
Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

 

Second Reading  Colossians 1:15-20
Jesus is the head of the body, the Church.

 

Gospel Reading
Luke 10:25-37

 

In today’s Gospel we are given the summary ofChristian belief: Love God & Love Neighbour. This command is nothing remoteor mysterious - it’s already written in our hearts, in the book of sacredScripture: “You have only to carry it out,” Moses says in this week’s FirstReading. Jesus tells His interrogator the same thing: “Do this and you willlive.” -The scholar, however, wants to know where he can draw the line.That’s the motive behind his question: “Who is my neighbor?”. In hiscompassion, the Samaritan in Jesus’parable reveals the boundless mercy ofGod - who came down to us when we were fallen in sin, close to dead, unableto pick ourselves up. Like the Samaritan, He pays the price for us, heals thewounds of sin, pours out on us the oil and wine of the sacraments, entrusts usto the care of His Church, until He comes back for us. Because His love hasknown no limits, ours cannot either. We are to love as we have been loved, todo for others what He has done for us - joining all things together in His Body,the Church. This is the love that leads to eternal life, the love Jesuscommands today of the scholar, and of each of us - “Go and do likewise.”