7 October 2024
Our Lady of the Rosary

Luke 10: 25-37
‘Being the field hospital’

On October 7, the Catholic Church commemorates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast day is also known as “Our Lady of Victory” and is observed to pay tribute to the Blessed Mother, who guided Christian forces to triumph over Ottoman troops in Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Before the battle, Pope Pius V urged European Christians to recite the Rosary. The Pope credited the victory to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast was established to honour her maternal protection through the devotion of the Rosary.

Pope Francis warns us of the danger of following a “passer-by” culture when interpreting the parable of the Samaritan. Our society is such that individuals often overlook the needs of their neighbours as they pass by. We must take a moment to observe and respond to the hardships of those in our midst.

The worst insult to a Jew was to call him “pagan.” To address them as a “Samaritan” was equivalent to calling them “bastard,” “renegade,” or “heretic.” The Samaritan in the parable is in hostile territory in Judea. But, seeing the dying man on the roadside, he loses his mind; he forgets everything and opts to reach out to the wounded man.

First, ‘He saw him’—everybody else saw him, but he saw him differently. The Gospel reminds us not to expect the other person to call out for assistance; perhaps they don’t even have the ability to seek help. If I care for my neighbour, I must be alert because that is how God looks. Our translation says the Samaritan took the wounded man to an inn and cared for him. However, the Greek word in the text refers to not an inn, but “a place where all are welcome” without restrictions.

Today, we are the wounded persons on the wayside, and the Samaritan is Jesus. He drew near us, cared for us, and paid for us. He gave the two denarii – the two-day wages – to the innkeeper, promising to return on the third day. The ‘third day’ is the day of the Lord’s return. And he tells the innkeeper: “If you need more when I come back, I will pay”. In this passage, there is the whole Gospel.

‘The place where all are welcomed’ is the Church to which the Lord entrusts all the people in distress to care for. That is why Pope Francis calls the Church a “field hospital”, where all are attended to and cared for, and no one is rejected. We share the mission of Christ to be the Samaritan and the mission of the Church to be the ‘field hospital.’

© Claretian Publications, Macau
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2024