Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Our youngest son graduated from college in this past May. In August we moved him to a small city in the Northeast to begin his graduate studies. We all experienced the anxiety of leaving him in this new environment. I’m sure I was the most anxious! During the four days of getting his apartment furnished and set up, I had the opportunity to walk around the main square of this little town. This particular university has an incredible reputation and nearly every one of its historical buildings are located in close proximity to the main square. What astonished me was the number of people who approached me asking for money or cigarettes or help in this very small town. Each time I walked outside our hotel, I encountered at least four or five people within the first several minutes. And while I do not want to rush to judgment, I had a strong feeling of an ‘us and them’ mindset, a sense that these people were ‘other’ and not ‘neighbor’. All these weeks later, it still bothers me and I have become much more aware of how and when I find myself viewing the persons I encounter in my life as ‘other’.
Today’s Gospel relates the parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and Levite pass by the ‘half dead’ man by the side of the road and it is only the Samaritan who goes out of his way to attend to the gravely wounded man. Notwithstanding Jewish laws at the time, it is inconceivable to us that the priest and the Levite could pass by someone in such need. We most probably identify with the Good Samaritan. Although we know almost nothing about this anonymous Samaritan, we can probably assume he was familiar with that feeling of being ‘other’, yet his actions reflect a heart blind to this notion.
At times we can find ourselves identifying those we encounter as ‘other’. Many times it is reflexive and we are not even aware of it; it may even help us feel secure or help us make sense of what is happening around us. In reality, there is no ‘other’ in the Kingdom of God; there is only ‘neighbor’. And while none of us will ever fix the world by ourselves, we can become more aware of our own way of thinking and acting in our small corner of God’s world. This day, I pray that God will raise my awareness of how and when I see anyone as ‘other’ and bestow upon me the grace to see them as God does—see them as neighbor.
--Gail Lyman