held at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral
30 April 2025
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of those passages that in one way or another is familiar to people beyond the Christian family. The expression “good samaritan” rings a bell in the hearts of many, being Christians or not.
It is a powerful text that continues to challenge us every time we read it. I would like to quickly underline three things about the parable:
Note the number of verbs the parable uses to tell us what Jesus means when he says that the Samaritan had compassion: went up to him – bandaged his wounds, poured oil and wine on them – lifted him onto his own mount (it means he probably continued on foot) – took him to an inn – looked after him (I guess the whole night) – took out two denarii (from his own money) and handed them to the innkeeper – he entrusted him to the innkeeper – promised to be back (which he probably did!).
Jesus does not give a definition of compassion nor does he allow us to decide what compassion means. He explains it through the eight or ten actions of the Samaritan;
The main actor of the story is a Samaritan. It is a challenging parable. Not easy to be taken by the people of Israel who were in such bad terms with the Samaritans that in the Gospel of John 8:48 we read: “The Jews replied (to Jesus) ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and possessed by a devil?’”. The Jews use the word Samaritan to insult Jesus. In the parable, Jesus chooses to make the one seen as an enemy, the model of compassion. This, having indicated that a priest and a Levite saw the man and decided to move to the other side of the road;
Having shared the parable Jesus goes back to the question put by the lawyer but changes it. The initial question was: “who is my neighbour?”. Jesus asks him back: “Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the bandits’ hands?”. According to the parable, we are not automatically neighbours, we make ourselves neighbours when we have compassion of those badly beaten in life.
One of the key words that has marked Francis papacy was mercy. He had some catchphrases he would repeat regularly:
- God never tires of forgiving, it is us who get tired of asking for forgiveness
- He saw the Church as a field hospital after a battle
and many others.
But what has come to us as a challenge are his symbolic actions, powerful, full of meaning, difficult to ignore. They made us talk about them and a number of times they left us speechless. At times we rejoyced, other times were felt confused.
- For his very first trip in July 2013 Pope Francis chose to go to the Italian island of Lampedusa putting a spotlight on the plight of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war, persecution and poverty. He prayed for all those who drowned trying to reach Europe and threw flowers into the sea in a sign of mourning;
- As it was remembered at his funeral, another powerful moment was the celebration of Mass at the border between Mexico and the USA in 2016 calling forced migration a human tragedy;
- From the very beginning of his ministry Pope Francis not only chose to wash the feet of prisoners every Holy Thursday but – new to many – these were men and women, Catholic and those belonging to other faiths making them and us aware that every person had a place in his heart;
- In May 2014, visiting Israel, as he was crossing into Palestine, out of the program, he asked for the car to stop, got out of the car and touched the wall that separates these two peoples and bowed his head in prayer, participating silently in the suffering being brought by this symbol of division;
- In April 2019, at the end of a retreat held at the Vatican by the leadership of South Sudan, the then 82 year old Pope unexpectedly went on his knees and kissed their feet making them aware that peace, mercy and a different future for the people of South Sudan was in their hands;
- In 2015 Pope Francis having called for a jubilee of mercy from December that year, he chose to “jump-start” the opening of the Jubilee by opening a first Jubilee door at Bangui’s Cathedral in the Central African Republic as a sign of prayer and solidarity in a war-torn nation;
- His visit to Iraq in March 2021 was not only the first done by a Pope but it is said, was marked by a possible threat on his life through suicide bombers. Even if he was informed about it, he felt it was important for the visit to continue;
- One more. Maybe a very simple one but with deep meaning. We hear that every evening at 8.00 PM, Pope Francis would phone Holy Family, the only Catholic parish in Gaza to know how they were. The last call was two days before he died.
A number of people tell stories of Pope Francis’ phone calls making himself close to people who were going through difficult times.
Looking back at his 12 years as Bishop of Rome, I tend to think that Pope Francis was inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan and made himself a good Samaritan.
Through each one of these actions and many others, he opened our eyes to the sufferings of those beaten up by life: migrants, prisoners, divided nations, war torn countries... He put them just in front of our eyes for us to decide if we would have compassion or cross to the other side of the road.
While in Jesus’ time it was not easy to accept that a Samaritan could be good, none of us struggle with it today. We could though struggle if we would re-tell the parable by saying: “But an undocumented migrant traveller who came on him was moved with compassion or a recently released prisoner, or a member of a different faith, a homeless person, a transgender... any of those who do not belong to my group and who I do not fully trust.
It was very powerful that the Pope Francis body was welcomed at the Basilica of Mary Major – where he is buried – by migrants, prisoners, homeless and transgender people each holding a white rose.
We live in a world that generates migrants and refugees through the financing of wars, through financial policies that prioritize profit over people, by ignoring the reality of climate change, through political systems that instill fear in those who think differently, by the use of any type of media presenting a negative image of migrants...
Instead of addressing the causes of migration, our world chooses to build walls, to strengthen migration policies, tp blame migrants for all the problems and to spend more money in security...
We live in a world that does not believe in the power of mercy. On the contrary, it is becoming merciless. It could well be that some of those who praised Pope Francis for his: “who am I to judge” might even be the most judgemental people towards others.
We live in a world that does not believe in non-violence. Just think of our third world war in pieces (as Francis would call it), the level of Gender Based Violence in the world and the way we treat each other on social media.
Still, I read that about 250.000 people were present at Pope Francis’ funeral and another 150.000 waited on the street as his body was being carried to St Mary Major basilica where he is now buried.
How many more, like you and me, watched it on TV? Maybe millions
What triggered in us this need to say goodbye and pray for him? I believe it is not just that he was a Pope among the people but that his message of mercy, his compassion shown in clear, concrete actions made us wonder about the way we live. His voice and unexpected actions have been for us a light in the darkness we seem to be going through.
He left us wondering if having compassion, building bridges and taking care of each other might not well be the way we should follow.
Jesus is asking you and me today: ‘Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the bandits’ hands?’ With the lawyer we reply, ‘The one who showed pity towards him.’
Let us then go and do the same ourselves as Jesus told the lawyer.
May the Word we have shared and Pope Francis’ witness, encourage us to make ourselves neighbours to each other, particularly neighbours of those badly beaten by life, by our attitudes, by our policies...
