There is an isolated spot on a dangerous road in the Middle East known as “The Bloody Pass.” The road, at the time of this event, was more of a narrow path — a twisting, turning path with cliffs and caves on either side — lots of places for thugs to hide. This particular place, “The Bloody Pass,” got its name because of the violence that commonly occurred there.

Unfortunately, one poor man happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was attacked by bandits and left half-dead, tossed to the side of the road. He was bleeding and certainly would die without help. The bandits even took his clothes.

Recognize this story? It’s one of Jesus’ most well-known parables — the Good Samaritan. In fact, most of us have heard it so many times that we tend to gloss over it, thinking, Yeah, yeah, the Good Samaritan — help people in trouble and stuff… got it.

Notice the setup for the story of the Good Samaritan. What prompted Jesus to tell this story in the first place? Verse 25 says that an “expert in the law” wanted to “test” Jesus. In other words, this man, who knew the Old Testament and Jewish law backward and forward, inside and out, was trying to trip Jesus up.

When the man asked, “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” How did Jesus respond? He said, basically, “Hey, you’re the expert. What does the Law say?” The “Law” Jesus referred to here is the “law of Moses,” or the first five books of the Old Testament.

The expert then recited what Jesus calls in Matthew 22 the greatest and the second greatest commandments: He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In return, Jesus responded, in essence, “You got it. Do those two things — one, love God with your whole being and, two, love your neighbor as yourself — and you will live.”

“OK, Jesus, tell me this: Who is my neighbor?”

Who is my neighbor? Who is it, exactly, that God calls us to love just as much as we love ourselves? And beyond that, once we know who our neighbor is, what do we do? How do we show that we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves?

Jesus answers the question in a beautiful story of compassion in action.

Jesus ended His conversation with the lawyer with a powerful command: Go and do likewise. That command — go and do  likewise : the mandate to love our neighbor as ourselves . “Who is our neighbor?” The parable of the Good Samaritan gives us the answer. It’s simple – our neighbor is anyone in need that we are in a position to help – the unselfish attention to a sick child, the vigil kept  at the bedside of a dying relative, the outreach to the poor and oppressed in our neighborhood, our community, the world, making the stranger feel at home among us.

In these ways is Christ’s love made manifest.

In my email this past week was an invitation to attend a webinar: Invitation to Conversion. I was intrigued by its title and so, I registered to attend this talk via the internet. In our digital age, webinars are one way to equip the disciple to share the message of Jesus.

However, the best way to share the message and prepare the disciple is the personal contact and the personal witness of living our life as disciples of Jesus.

Evangelization and witnessing is often a fearful prospect for many Catholics, yet it is the Christian mandate and one of the highest callings we can pursue. This week’s Gospel Reading can help remove that fear by showing us that witnessing for Jesus is simply living and relating to others in such a way that they comprehend that “the Kingdom of God has come near.” For many in this world that is the beginning of hope; the realization that God and his life is accessible to them. .

Evangelization always works best when it is a joint effort of two or more people. A companion in Christ reduces the stress of relating and talking to someone about Jesus and it more than doubles the creativity and wisdom that can be brought to the process of revealing the Kingdom of God to others. Having another with whom we can pray for people’s conversion is very empowering

As a community whose mission is to bring Christ’s love to those we serve, our presence and our common prayer supports our mission and our focus. Living in community and praying together moves us to service and inviting others to know God’s love for them.

Christ desires to reach the world, beginning with your world and your witness. It’s unreasonable that a witness should have to be sent from half-way around the world, or even from across the city, to bring the Gospel to your neighbors or your acquaintances. That is why he has you there.

Anyone involved with youth knows that the question of identity is the question for them. They are trying to find out who they are in terms of talents, career choices, how they relate to others. All of this is a positive step in maturation during which they identify their strengths and weaknesses, consider their gifts and bond with others who help them in this somewhat painful process. When asked about who they are, no one would answer in terms of pain, suffering or death.

In our Gospel today, Jesus asks a similar question about his identity. When Peter answers, the Christ of God, little did he know that implied suffering greatly, being rejected and being killed! This is the way Jesus becomes who he really is – the Risen One.  When we think Jesus’ mission we usually think of his teaching and preaching, his healing and working miracles. Bur underlying these activities is his suffering, death and resurrection. And so it is with us.

We are called to daily take up our cross; to die to ourselves and to care for others. Following Jesus has its cost.  We save our lives by losing them. Self-giving is life-giving.

We bathe others when they are in need. Parents bathe their infants and toddlers because they are not able to do it for themselves. Nurses bathe patients when they are too sick to do it for themselves. Children bathe their parents when their parents are too frail or too forgetful. In all of these, the act of bathing another is a tender, loving and generous act. in addition to cleansing, bathing another deepens a relationship. Bathing another has layers of meaning and nowhere is this clearer than in our Gospel this Sunday.

Jesus is dining with a Pharisee and the Gospel makes it clear that his host had not provided the usual gesture of hospitality. And a “sinful woman in the city”  seemingly without permission and with no fear of recrimination brings a flask of ointment as she approaches Jesus. One clear purposes [to anoint Jesus] apparently leads to an unplanned response!  When she encounters Jesus she is moved to tears and in a humble act, bathes his feet with her tears and wipes his feet dry with her hair.

The Pharisee’s response is indignation. Was he concerned about the woman or embarrassed because he failed to provide the customary act of hospitality?  Jesus, on the other hand, was able to see into the woman’s heart and forgive her. And he looks into the heart of the Pharisee and finds no love.

The deeper lesson here is how we see others, encounter them and respond to their needs with care.

When Jesus looks at the woman he sees her great love, her saving faith. The woman sees Jesus as the One whom she can love and who loves her in return.

What is really central in our Gospel today is an openness to others, accepting them for who they are and seeing into our hearts before we judge the heart of another.

What does Jesus see when he looks at us? What do we see when we look at one another?

Recently, there was a news item of strawberry farmers destroying good plants rather than picking the strawberries for market. It was cheaper to let the berries go to waste than to pick them. There was a public outcry, and rightly so.

Weekly, I receive pamphlets of malnourished, starving citizens which demand a response from me.  I know there is food in abundance and that our starving sisters and brothers across the globe are victims of political action. And I  know that world citizens are starving for more than just food.

Our readings today make it clear that we are to give of our very selves in feeding others. We are called to give the gift that keeps on giving-our very self for the life of others.  As Jesus is God’s nourishment through his self gift, we too, are to be God’s abundant nourishment for others. Perhaps what is amazing about this Gospel is that God willingly chooses us to make known his blessing.

This feast celebrates the superabundance of God’s graciousness to us.  We are invited to share that superabundance. The challenge of our Gospel is for us to be Eucharist for one another, to be attentive to the needs of others. The challenge is to make visible that divine generosity.

What’s your favorite way of talking about the Trinity? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer? Have you ever tried to explain the Trinity? Or even to understand it? God is one and yet we’ve got these three, what? So what is God? Maybe God is a shape-shifter, one minute holy parent, another holy child, another holy spirit. “God in three persons.” Talking about the Trinity is not easy!

The greatest mystery of this feast is not how God can be Three-in-One,  but why does this God choose to be intimately present to us.  Perhaps the mystery is that the triune community of the Trinity wishes to dwell within the community of humanity!

Living and dying the Paschal Mystery means that we are faithful witnesses to the God within. So what do we have to be for one another? The love of God poured out, the truth that guides. This is the glory of God revealed within and among us.

Pentecost! The celebration of… what? Flames on heads? Speaking in tongues? The blessing of the Spirit on individuals?

Although Pentecost was originally a festival celebration of the wheat harvest in ancient Israel, and of the giving of the law which defined Israel as a nation, for Christians it is known as the time when the power of the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and is sometimes called the birthday of the church. In that sense, Pentecost, which can also refer to the entire 50 days between the resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, is the celebration of the formation of the church as corporate body. Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to guide his disciples, just before he ascends to heaven, is sealed with the arrival of the Spirit on Pentecost.

The Spirit of God has, of course, been present since the beginning of creation, but the event of Pentecost marks the moment when the Spirit works to mediate the presence of the Risen Christ to the church community.

Pentecost, then, is more about the corporate body of the church than about the spiritual presence of God to individual believers. The Spirit is now available to guide the church in its mission to bring the Gospel to the world.

The effect on the disciples as they receive the Spirit is interesting in this respect. They begin to speak in languages other than their own, with the crowd who gathers hearing the disciples speak in their own language. This is the reversal of what happened with the curse of Babel, which resulted in confusion and lack of understanding between peoples. Rather, at Pentecost, all are made able to understand the message of the Gospel, and are drawn into the church through the power and understanding given by the Spirit.

What should this mean for us today, as a people of the Spirit? By this indwelling of the Spirit, we ourselves become advocates of God’s presence for others.  It maybe as simple as a reassuring touch or a helping hand.  It might be a sacrifice of time  in volunteering for a task that needs to be done for the good of all. In all, we are called to die to ourselves in order to be the true presence of Christ for others.

We, who have lost a loved one, know that their “spirit” often lives on long after their death. Certain situations will trigger our memory of them. Recalling what they said or did, we are inspired to live up to the legacy they have left us. In this way their presence continues through our words and actions.

We might well imagine the disciples overwhelming sense of grief and absence when Jesus ascended into heaven. As time will tell, Jesus’ absence will really mark the beginning of a new kind of presence. We, his followers, are commissioned  to preach that suffering and death lead to new life and that forgiveness will be granted to all who seek forgiveness. His ascension is our commission because we are now His presence on earth.

His very absence calls us to be and do as Jesus.  To put another’s needs above our own desires; to seek amends when forgiving another or letting go of grudges. And we don’t do this on our own, we are gifted with the very power of the Holy Spirit. Having experienced God’s saving action, we can be that saving action for others.

In the book, The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz presents a practical guide to personal freedom. The first of the Four Agreements is: Be Impeccable with Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. For most of us, this may be very difficult.  In our Gospel today, Jesus takes us deeper!  Not only are we to keep our word, now we are asked to keep His Word!  That is, to live the way he lived!

In order for us to live Christ’s word, we are promised an Advocate, a divine, indwelling presence through which we are able to live and love as Jesus himself did.

To keep His word, we open our hearts to his presence, allow him to change us.

In Jesus, the lame walked, the oppressed rejoiced, the poor had the Good news preached to them. If we are to keep Jesus’ word, then our lives are to be characterized by a speaking and doing that brings about transformation.