Connections&  
July 15 -- 15th Sunday of the Year

• "... a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight."  Luke 10:25-37
  

Warming the coldest heart
A cold wave swept through a small Russian village, making life even more miserable for the poor and homeless.  On a bitterly cold day, the rabbi went to the home of the town's wealthiest man, seeking help for his desperate congregants.
     The rabbi knocked and the rich man opened the door.  "Come in, Rabbi," the rich man invited.  Unlike everyone else in town, the man was in shirt-sleeves; after all, his house was well heated.
     "No," the rabbi said.   "No need for me to come in.  I'll just be a minute."  And the rabbi proceeded to engage the rich man in a lengthy, rambling conversation.  The rabbi asked him about his family and how all were faring during this difficult time.  Standing at his doorstep, the rich man was freezing, but every time he asked the rabbi to come inside, the rabbi declined.
     The rabbi went on and on.
     "And how is your wife's cousin, the lumber merchant, how is he?  And your sister and her family--are they coping well with this bitter weather?"
     By this time the rich man's cheeks are red with cold.  "Rabbi, what did you come here for?!" he finally demanded.
     "Oh, that," the rabbi said.  "I need money from you to buy coal for the poor people in town."
     "So why don't you come in and we'll talk about it?"
     "Because if I come in, we will sit down by your fireplace.  You will be very warm and comfortable, and when I tell you how the poor are suffering from the cold, you really won't understand.  You will give me a few rubles and send me on my way.  But now, out here," the rabbi went on, pointing to the frozen moisture on the man's cheeks, "when I tell you how the poor are suffering from the cold, I think you will understand better."
     The man was happy to give the rabbi a hundred rubbles just so he could shut the door and return to his fireplace.

     [From Jewish Humor by Joseph Telushkin.]

     
CONNECTION:  The parable of the Good Samaritan calls us to embrace a vision of faith that sees every man, woman and child-- regardless of whatever labels society has assigned to them--as our "neighbors."  Christ teaches us, his disciples, to look beyond what divides us from one another and focus on what unites us; to put aside our own needs and wants to embrace the needs and wants of others; to see our own wealth as a means to bring healing and hope into the lives of those who have little.  The Good Samaritan is the prototype of Gospel charity, the embodiment of the Gospel vision of humanity as a community of everyone--male and female, rich and poor, able and challenged--sharing the same sacred dignity as sons and daughters of the God of all that is good. *