Luke 10: 25-37 And Who Is My Neighbor?
The question really is: Who is my friend? A friend is someone who helps you when you cannot do it alone. The “it”, is complicated. It is full of meaning. A man beaten and left to die cannot rise, survive, or live alone. His body has been torn apart; his mind is in a state of confusion; his heart is racked with pain. All around him he can only see a hostile world where creatures serve themselves and await, in silence, the other’s death. It is a dog eat dog world where little mercy is shown and little mercy is expected. It is Darwin’s theory of evolution: Only the strong survive. And yet, how can we forget? We are not dogs.
I may forget, but the Lord will never forget. “The Lord will remember his covenant forever” (Ps 111:5). During Isaiah’s difficulties, when all seemed lost and the Lord appeared to have rejected and abandoned the prophet forever. Did he not ask the Lord a simple question? “Will you forget me?” How can I forget the response of the Lord: Forget? Can I forget you? “Can a mother forget her child?” Can the impossible fall upon you? And just to reinforce the message again, the Lord sets the limit on the limitless: “Even if a mother – even if the impossible could occur – I will never forget you! We are not orphans. We are his. We are his children.
A friend is someone who helps you remember when you can’t. “I hate my parents!” is the 2nd greatest lie that children tell themselves. The first being the most obvious: “My parents hate me!” And if this were not the greatest lie ever told, then it would be the gravest sin ever committed. Before we can have any true friendships, we must have a loving relationship with those who love us the most. Order must be put back into my life. The truth must be said. A lie must always be remembered. The truth is never forgotten.
Who is my friend? A friend is someone who helps me when I cannot love myself. When I cannot see myself for who I am: wounded; when I find it difficult to accept the truth of my own sins. When I lie to myself and afflict my own punishment and judgment. When I become the victim of my own abuse! My friend, my best friend, lifts me up and carries me above my own sickness, delusions and realities so that I can once again see the greatest of realities before me: I am still alive. I can still love and be loved. A friend is someone who helps me love when I cannot love.
Who is the Good Samaritan? I AM. I AM who saves. Jesus. He is the Good Samaritan who is rich and became poor so that I could be poor in the things that nail us to this world and rich in the things that lift us high, above this world. Christ was always poor in matter and rich in non-matter: mercy, compassion, love, forgiveness, self-esteem, self-respect and self-worth. He is rich in all the things that money can never buy because money is of man, and God’s image does not appear on worthless items. His image appears in me. How can I forget? I was created in His image. Who is my friend? A friend is someone who helps me discover who I truly am when I cannot see it for myself.
A friend is someone who brings me home, to the Father’s house, since I cannot do it alone. If I have learned anything over the years, it is this: Christ is more than my Lord and my Savior. He is my best friend.
Thank you, Father. Perfect. Exactly what I needed to hear.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you and your ministry,
Linda K.
Dear Fr. Alfonse,
ReplyDeleteSometimes it isn't a lie when a child says, my parents hate me. Sometimes they have suffered the gravest sin. When your mother tells you that she hates you and wishes you had never been born and your father creeps into your bed at night and molests you, what else are you to believe? How do you learn to trust others when your own parents thought nothing of you? Thought you were only worthy of their abuse?
Every day is a struggle for me to love and trust. I am not a victim but a survivor! But every day, sometimes several times a day, I have to rebuke satan because he continues to try to get me to believe his lies. His lies that I am not loveable and that it is my fault when someone rejects me.
I AM is the one who picked me up and helped me to see that I am made in His image and His likeness, that I am loveable. That "even if my mother and father forsake me, the LORD will take me in (Psalm 27:10).
My body was physically fine but my mind was in a state of confusion; and my heart was racked with pain. He sent others to help me see that Jesus is my best friend and to show me how to have a relationship with Christ and to develop a trust in Him. Through His love he has also taught me how to forgive and let go of my past. To not be afraid to love.
Jesus knows what I have been through, He was with me on my cross and he delivered me from that hell. He knows that I continue to struggle with trusting Him and that sometimes I cling to those in this world instead of running to Him. But He loves me and is patient with me.
I love the story of the Good Samaritan. It reminds me of how important it is to reach out to others. Christ uses us to to bind up the wounds of our neighbor, to pick them up when they are beaten down and to help them rise again.
A priest recently told me that my my prayers were more important than wiping the brow of the sick. I disagree. Anyone who has the courage to reach out to those in need is already praying for that person. But they are willing to see beyond themselves and offer their love. They aren't afraid of humbling themselves. And sometimes their kindness is rejected but they accept that and move on to the next person in need, because there is always someone in need of our touch. Curtis Stephan has a beautiful song that reminds us that they (the poor, the sick, the homeless) need more than just our prayers.
I pray that God continues to bless us with a generous heart and to never let our fear of rejection prevent us from reaching out to those in need.
Love it Father!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your struggle anonymous.
ReplyDeleteYou are right it is not always a lie when you think your parents hate you, at least your earthly parents. And it does put us in a deficit for trusting and loving. But it also gives us a jump on compassion, acceptance, understanding and empathy for others, something those who haven't been there have to work to achieve.
Thank God our heavenly parents are with us even through the hell, waiting for us to turn to them to wipe our tears and heal our wounds.
“Who is my friend? A friend is someone who helps me when I cannot love myself. When I cannot see myself for who I am: wounded; when I find it difficult to accept the truth of my own sins. When I lie to myself and afflict my own punishment and judgment. When I become the victim of my own abuse! My friend, my best friend, lifts me up and carries me above my own sickness, delusions and realities so that I can once again see the greatest of realities before me: I am still alive. I can still love and be loved. A friend is someone who helps me love when I cannot love….. Who is my friend? A friend is someone who helps me discover who I truly am when I cannot see it for myself”
ReplyDeleteI have been in some bad places in my life, really bad places. Not geographical places, but bad places inside myself. I withdraw from my friends at those times when I need them the most. No matter how many bad people or parasites I have in my life, I have always had at least one good friend around to keep my head above the water. Even when I ran from them and tried to get away, to drown myself in my often self-induced darkness, they refused to leave me alone. No matter how much self hatred I had, they were there refusing to give up, refusing to believe the lies I believed about myself. They stuck with me through the night until I saw the light, when reality became clearer to me.
I often came out of that dark place feeling stupid or ashamed for my inability to see truth when it was staring me in the face pounding on my heart. But that friend was always there holding me, telling me I was safe, showing me that their love for me expanded when I couldn’t love myself.
I know that every time I’ve been in that place that God placed that person there so I wouldn’t feel alone, so that I would not be able to throw myself into the bottomless pit, which I was often tempted to do.
Even though I have never had a problem with drugs, alcohol, self-mutilation, promiscuousness, or any of the other evil addictions out there. I could never get away from my own thoughts that could animate any evil right there in my head. My own thoughts have always been my poison. I have fought depression my entire life and I still do.
I thank God that through my whole life, I have always had at least one friend there holding my hand showing me the truth about who I am, being patient, babysitting me until I can see it.
I now know that Jesus has always been there, orchestrating my rescue.
The darkness doesn’t last as long or go as deep as it used to but it still comes and Jesus is always there as my friend and with my friend leading me back to His Light and Truth.
God is GREAT! Love, support & protect! :)
ReplyDeleteGod's glorious gift of friendship! Uniting souls through so they will NEVER again feel unloved, rejected, alone, or abandoned.
ReplyDelete