Listen to the homily here.
Notes:
Notes:
7thSunday in Ordinary Time
Neighbor
· 104 times throughout the Bible
o Used twice in our readings today
o Connection between Leviticus and Matthew
§ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD
I am the LORD
§ Matthew: You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
§ Sermon on the Mount
Who is our neighbor? (son at 92.96 million miles)
· McGregor: who was my neighbor
o College in a dormitory
· Definition: Those that live next to us, or near to us
That by itself sunk into my mind: how to I support, serve or help those who live around me, my neighbors?
· Rural area, which is unique as I haven’t had neighbors that well
Actually, while I am asking this question, analytically, I finally thought like a preschooler, Jesus
· So ,think, think, think
o Didn’t someone ask this same question to Jesus? Indeed! A parable. Luke 10. Good Samaritan. A lawyer in Luke 10 asked that exact question: “How am I to love my neighbor?”
· And Jesus responded to the lawyer, and me: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
· Now, were these “neighbors” that we would define today? Perhaps, but perhaps something deeper. I mean, did the priest, Levite or the Good Samaritan neighbors? Was the Good Samaritan a physical neighbor, or was he a neighbor because he was a NEIGHBOR that needed mercy?
Finally, as we heard last week about the fulfillment of the law, for us to be challenged and seeking excellence, this is how powerful that Jesus called our neighbors:
· “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So, let’s go deeper than a definition of a neighbor, but what we do with our neighbors in our lives: LOVE
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