July 16, 2007
meditation: the good samaritan
Our culture professionalizes everything...childcare, justice, healthcare, farming, faith and even friendship. It's possible that western culture has exhibited this preference for centuries.
Perfection (eternal life), as encountered in the story of the Good Samartian is as much about the failure of professionalism as it is about neighborliness. Two professional religious, perhaps even professional caretakers, will walk by the injured man. They have credentials to worry about, purity and rite. Too often neighborliness is overcome by professionalism. Thus Jesus issues his warning.
Brother Roger of Taize said: "Every human being yearns to be loved as to love. It is not for nothing that the Gospel alerts us about not withdrawing into isolation."
The icon before you is entitled "The Hospitality of Abraham and Sarah" or "The Holy Trinity." The iconographer wants us to know the principal place that neighborliness has in the story of salvation - the relationship between God and God's creation.
In this icon, there is even room at the table for you and me. This is the invitation that God issues the Universe.
Come and love.
Come and be loved.
So we say, "Come, Holy Spirit, come."
