Who is my Neighbor?

A reflection on the gospel story of the good Samaritan.

“And who is my neighbor?” In short, everyone; and this includes all who have hurt us or are considered our enemy. Jesus busts wide open any kind of prejudice in this gospel passage today. He tells us to love everyone. But, it is safe to say that we can prioritize our relationships and responsibilities too. We will always love our friends more than strangers and definitely more than our enemies. But because we love others more does not give us license to hate.

In fact, it’s vital to our relationship with God to love our neighbor – even our enemies – for the scriptures tell us, “How can you say you love God who is invisible, if you cannot love your [neighbor] who is visible?”

The National Conference of Catechetical Leaders states: “Our morality, as Christians, is rooted in two points: human dignity and community…human dignity is rooted in the biblical truth that we are created in the image and likeness of God [and] our understanding of community is found in the model of the Trinity.”

It’s easy to grasp our friend’s dignity but often we are confounded by our enemy’s behavior. Some people can be such jerks in our life that it causes us to struggle with finding an image of God in them. Despite our suffering and possible right for justice, our own humility is the only means to grow in finding that image of God in our enemy.

As Christians, we are called to be like water. “Water easily benefits all things without struggle. Yet it abides in places that people hate.” In Living Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it another way, “Nobody is too good for the meanest service.”

Bonhoeffer continues by stating, “We learn from the discipline of humility that we must not spare our hand where it can perform a service and that we do not assume our schedule is our own to manage, but allow it to be arranged by God.” And further, “Only where hands are not too good for deeds of love and mercy in everyday helpfulness can the mouth joyfully and convincingly proclaim the message of God’s love and mercy.” By loving our neighbor – especially enemies – we come to learn of God’s love for us more richly and then can proclaim that love with deeper authenticity. Even from a Machiavellian perspective, it’s in our best interests to love others!

But as Marva Dawn, author of Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, points out, our contemporary culture is increasingly individualistic and self absorbed. The question of our Christian duty to love our neighbor is sterilized with reaching out to far away places and global concerns – I’ve done a good thing when I buy fair trade products (all good acts in and of themselves and we ought to do them) – but we must consider the local community as a priority. How do I tangibly love the person in the pew next to me? I can sit in a pew next to a stranger but can I hold their hand during the Lord’s Prayer?

Our brother or sister in the Lord needs community (fellowship with other Christians), especially when he or she becomes uncertain and discouraged in his or her hope for a holy life. The Christian needs his or her brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.

As Christians, we are called to be community; a community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, no more, no less. It is a duty built upon humility and openness and while it is a duty, it is not without reward. We discover God in and through one another. We receive encouragement in difficult times. We find love when we thought all was lost. This is a founding belief and experience of the Church. As Saint Paul told the Christian community of Philippi, “Do not think of your own interests alone, but look to the interest of others.” (Phil. 2:2-4.)

True Freedom and Responsibility

The fourth of July, Independence Day for the United States of America, is this coming weekend. Here's a brief reflection on true freedom and responsibility.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” ~ The Declaration of Independence, 1776.

As Christians, life, liberty, and happiness are well defined for us. In today’s (14th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle C) second reading, Saint Paul points out that “the world is crucified to him.” In this statement, St. Paul is stating that the power of all that stands at enmity with God, the sphere of pleasure and ambition related to gross self-gratification, has been broken, not psychologically or mystically, but historically by the cross of Christ. (New Jerome Bible Commentary) By the cross, we are free.

It is this Christian reality of “freedom” that guides our pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. And, these three ends are not achieved in an autonomous self actualization but in our pursuit of holiness dependent on God, as indicated in today’s alternative opening prayer, “Let sin never ensnare us with empty promises of passing joy. Make us one with you always, so that our joy may be holy, and our love may give life.”

One of my favorite authors is B.W. Maturin. In his Self Knowledge and Self Discipline, he writes, “A healthy body and a plentiful supply of good things of this world are no necessary indication of a happy life. For the life of man is above all things a mental life, he can never rid himself of the companions of his mind.” The more we fill our minds with holy thoughts and bring our desires into line with our Christian duty to love God and neighbor, the more we will achieve true happiness. For God is Ultimate Happiness per St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.

Yet Sin seduces us to believe we can have happiness contrary to God’s law and we can become bound by habits of sin that alienate us from God and estrange us from others. These habits of sin can only be conquered by habits of perseverance built upon a faith that God has freed us from sin. God’s work on the cross grants us independence from Sin. Yet, B.W. Maturin states, “it would indeed be worse than misleading to tell a man who has long yielded to habits of sin that at any given moment he could without constant prayer, vigilance, and strenuous effort, assert his liberty and never yield [to sin] again.”

So, we find ourselves in a real life battle for our souls. As a bumper sticker says, “Peace is won in battle.” Soren Kierkegaard states, “True faith is never an easy matter, nor is it a means to a tranquil life. On the contrary, faith is always a risk, an adventure that requires the denial of oneself and all the joys of the faithless.” The greatest enemy of our freedom and pursuit of happiness is not one another. The really dangerous enemies of our freedom come from within ourselves: fear, uncontrollable passion, and ignorance.
Christianity is not simply an ideology. It’s about establishing the Kingdom of God in our lives, aligning ourselves with Christ and his laws, and being free from sin.

We have a great nation. One established to enable all to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How will we use our freedom? For gross self gratification or for holiness? An old friend once said, “With greater freedom comes greater responsibility.”