My neighbor is wealthy, successful, poor and lonely.
My neighbor is Black, White, Brown, Asian and more.
My neighbor is Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Transgender and Questioning their sexuality.
My neighbor identifies as Democrat as well as Republican.
My neighbor is a conservative Catholic and a liberal Catholic.
My neighbor is Christian and non-Christian.
My neighbor is very young, very old and all ages in between.
My neighbor is ill and healthy, happily married, divorced, single and widowed.
My neighbor speaks the same language as I do and my neighbor speaks a different language than I do.
My neighbor has strong opinions which I respect, and my neighbor is not always compassionate towards my way of thinking.
Who is my neighbor? Go and DO what the Good Samaritan did: treat YOUR neighbor with compassion!
The Gospel reading for Sunday, July 10, 2022 was the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Fr. Terry Keehan is the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Inverness, Illinois, the parish I founded in 1984. He concluded his article in the parish bulletin with the words above that describe WHO my neighbor is.
As YOU look over the list of the people above, which ones do YOU find it difficult to treat as YOUR neighbor and to show compassion towards? How will YOU make an effort to be more compassionate toward them?
GOD DOESN’T PROPOSE TO JUDGE A PERSON UNTIL THEY ARE DEAD. THEN WHY SHOULD YOU JUDGE THEM BEFOREHAND?
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