Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Or Optional Memorial of Saint Bruno, Priest
Luke 10:25-37
Taking risks to make our compassion real

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most familiar in the Gospel, yet it always challenges us in new ways. Jesus tells the story along a road everyone knew was dangerous—the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, notorious for robbers and ambushes. The point is clear: this is not a safe or easy situation, but a place where compassion requires courage.

Given a choice, we would blame the traveller who carelessly risked his life by travelling alone on that dangerous road – he should not have gone alone. Yet Jesus shows us that love does not stop to calculate blame. Mercy is given even to those who “brought trouble on themselves.”

Then we meet the priest and the Levite. They see the man but choose to pass by. Perhaps they feared ritual impurity, or maybe it was just the motto “safety first.” Whatever the excuse, their concern for their own safety and duty outweighed the call to compassion.

Finally comes the Samaritan. To the Jewish audience, he would have been the last person expected to help—an outsider, despised and distrusted. And yet, it is this stranger who stops, binds the wounds, pays the bill, and promises to return. In him we see the heart of God, who comes close to our brokenness without asking whether we deserve it.

The lesson is simple but demanding: our neighbour is anyone in need, no matter their race, religion, or background. True compassion does not remain a feeling—it takes shape in action.
Here the story of Jonah comes to mind. Jonah ran from God’s call because he did not want to show mercy to foreigners. But God saved him from the belly of the fish and sent him again, teaching him that His mercy cannot be limited.

Jesus says the same to us: “Go and do likewise.” To love as God loves means crossing boundaries, taking risks, and making our compassion real.

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025