Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

That is the most important question to ask in one’s life. We do not ask a math teacher, or science teacher for the answer, but we ask the only person who specializes in eternal life, we ask Jesus Christ, the Lord and giver of eternal life.

But Jesus wants this scholar to realize that the answer has already been communicated by God in the Old Testa-ment, and so Jesus responds with a question, “What is writ-ten in the law? How do you read it?”

The scholar responds to Jesus by summarizing the Shema prayer. This prayer is found in the Old Testament, the Book of Deuteronomy, and every practicing Jew prays it daily: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

But the scholar does not stop there, but summarizes an-other part of the Old Testament, The Book of Leviticus, (19:18)“And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus affirms his answer, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” Jesus knows that a person must love God first and foremost, in order to love your neighbor correctly.

But the scholar, like each one of us, wants to know for certain how to enter into eternal life, and so Jesus gives us the story of the Good Samaritan. The story of the Good Samaritan is interesting because Samaritans are not Jews, like the priest or Levite, who saw the victim of violence but avoided him.

The Good Samaritan, despite any fear that the robbers may still be in the area, was moved by compassion to stop and help the victim. He had compassion, which means that he was willing to suffer with this vulnerable person, to make this victim’s suffering his own, and thereby was able to over-come any fear in order to help him.

The Good Samaritan cared for his immediate needs and then brought the victim to an inn, but soon realized that he could not care for the victim on his own, but needed the help of the community. Thus, he gave the inn keeper money to care for the victim, and promised to pay the inn keeper any other expense for his care at his return.

We see this type of conscientious care in our own church and families. Jesus wants us to care for those who are most vulnerable and so we help our own children, but we also help others, like our elderly.

They call those of us who are caring for the young and the elderly the sandwich generation. We sometimes feel caught in the middle with these responsibilities, but we should not feel guilty for asking the larger community to help us with the care of our children and aging parents.

Because we are people of prayer and worship, we know that God will increase our compassion and our means to care for every human being who is most vulnerable to the vio-lence and robbers of today’s world.

We start with our own families, but our generosity reaches out to the larger community and helps organizations

like First Choice and the Zumbrota food shelf.

We not only help them with our financial gifts, but like the oil and wine poured on the wounds of the victim in today’s Gospel, we pour out our prayers and bring people to Christ, for Christ is the holy oil and the divine wine found in the Sacraments, beginning with the Sacra-ment of Baptism.

I had the experience of helping a homeless man who was beaten up by the world. As a youth minister one of my responsibilities was to make sure that no one was in the base-ment of the Church after Mass. After Saturday night Mass I passed by a dark room and sensed a presence. As I tuned on the lights immediately in front of me was a bearded, middle aged, homeless man. At first, I was surprised and stepped back, but then I asked if I could help him.

He said that he was only looking for a safe place to sleep. That night I prepared a hot meal for him and let him sleep at my apartment. As we talked, I asked him about his par-ents. He told me that he had not seen his parents for over twenty years. He did not know if they were alive. I was deeply saddened and had compassion for him and his par-ents.

I asked him if he missed them and if he prayed for them. He said that he did miss them, but that no one taught him how to pray. That night I wrote the most important prayers for him to pray daily for himself and his parents and other family members: The Lord’s prayer, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be. Together, we prayed for our family and friends that night.

The following morning over breakfast he said that he was grateful that we and prayed for his parents. He then went to the Catholic Charities’ Dorothy Day Center.

He was poor and vulnerable, and the Lord taught me to be like the Good Samaritan, because Jesus Christ had been that Good Samaritan to me, and has saved me many times through other Good Samaritans.

What a great moment and memory of living the two greatest commandments: loving God above all things with my whole being, and loving my neighbors as myself as God wills, especially the most vulnerable among us.

Peace in the Eucharistic Lord, Fr. Thomas McCabe