Finding God In Difficult People

If we were the victim in story of the Good Samaritan, I think we would be crying out for attention. We are not told that he even uttered any cry for help. Obviously, there must be a reason for that.

Everyone has his own definition of who the victim is today. We can pick and choose who will get our sympathy, thinking that we can imitate the Good Samaritan by helping “the right people.” That’s missing the whole point!

For many years Deacon Michael served as a chaplain for the Palliative Care (dying with no hope of recovery) department at Parkland Hospital, the charity hospital in Dallas. They had come to Parkland because the end was near. Everyone he loved and served quickly died. It was hard. He served far past the expected term, and was deeply affected by the people he served. When he was younger he spent many years taking care of his bedridden mother, in the absence of his father. These experiences opened his heart to those who suffered.

written by Laura Weston, widow of Deacon Michael

IF YOU LIKE, READ ALONG WHILE YOU ARE LISTENING:

St. Paul says in the first reading that there is only one gospel.  Listen to the gospel.  There isn't a replacement.  And then in the Alleluia song, "I give you a new commandment.  Love one another as I have loved you."  And that is the gospel.

When you cut it down, we have Christ crucified, we have all of these wonderful things.  But at the very core is loving God and loving neighbor.

And in our gospel reading today we have something that is very important.  It's this scholar of the law who comes up and says, "What do I need to do to inherit eternal life."  And he gives all the answers.  He gives the right answer of loving God and loving neighbor.  He asks Jesus a question, "Who do you say is my neighbor?"

And then we go into the Samaritan.  First we have the priest, or deacon.  He gets as far away as he could.  We have the Levite.  He gets as far away as he could.  "I don't want to get my hands dirty.  I don't want to be unclean because if I am unclean I can't go to the synagogue or the temple and do what I want to do.  I have to have a period of cleansing.  I have to do something special because I am important; I worship God and if I were to take care of that nasty person over there"… by the way because of where you are I will probably pick on you today… "I can't take care of that nasty person because it is so important that I be close to God."

Along comes the Samaritan.  The Jews and the Samaritans hate each other.  To the point where it was dangerous for a Samaritan to go through Jewish lands and for a Jew to go through Samaritan lands.  We talk about the Samaritan woman at the well. That is a very significant fact that it is Samaria.  Because Samaria was Jewish.  During the Babylonian captivity the Jews went off and the Samaritans stayed.  The Samaritans believed that they had the true faith.  The Jews believed that they had the true faith and they didn't like each other. 

So this man who is despised because he is in Jewish territory, what does he do?  He takes care of the man in need.  He gives of his money without asking.  Without saying , "Well, I'm going to do this because God loves me."  He simply does it because the man is in need.

Who is his neighbor?  Who is our neighbor?  Everyone is our neighbor.  And I gave the example when we were in (deacon’s) retreat.  I said, "Well, what do we do with the people?  The people to whom we are ministering?  The people to whom we have given up our lives?  We give up our lives to God, but as deacons, we give our lives up to people.  What do we do?  How do we deal with the situations of life?"  And to me, and this is very personal, to me, my spirituality, I don't walk out of the deaconate program, the retreat, going, "Oh, I feel so spiritual now.  Watch out! I've got it under control.  Me, you and me, God, we're just like this."  It never happens.  I walk out thinking about things.

But at the same time, I walk in… and like I said, I am going to pick on you… I meet someone who is in need, and generally, to me, the need has come out to be, "I need to talk to somebody."  And I talk to someone who comes to me in a time of need, and says, "I found out I am dying.  I've got cancer."  "My wife died on Friday," and it's Sunday.  "My children are ..."  All these things and much, much more.  And I talk to them.  I listen to them.  Mainly listen.  And I pray with them.  I give the wonderful, wonderful gift of being able to give a blessing from an ordained person.  Oh, what an incredible gift that is.  We'll talk on that later.

And I talk to them.  And they say, "I am going to be dying in three days."  And I say, "Isn't it wonderful!  You are so close to God.  I so envy where you are, to be that close to God."  Who are they?  I don't care.

And then spirituality kicks in.  Then, "Oh, that's where you are, God. That's where you are.  You are right there.  I wasn't doing anything.  Thank you, God."

And in our lives we have available to us the opportunity of that spirituality.

Who is my neighbor?  Your neighbor is the most obnoxious, repulsive person who is facing the world, who has been beaten up by the side of the road, who is your enemy.  He's dirty, he's stinky, he's bloody, he's unclean.  He wants to talk about things you don't want to ever hear!  You're going to be listening to him and dealing with him going, "Hmm... I, I don't want to do this."  And the Spirit says, "Go ahead and do it."

You want to find God?  That's where He is.  Again, this is my perspective.  This is my perspective of, "Where do we find God?  In loving God and in loving neighbor.”  I can pray for five hours to God and still go, "I'm not sure if I did it right."  But I can do the impossible for a neighbor and go, "Thank you, God."  And to leave someone where I have done something for them and they go, "Oh, thank you."  And I go, "You don't understand.  You just don't understand.  I'm the one thanking you, because you have given me so much more than I could possibly ever give you.  You have given me contact, direct, wonderful contact with my neighbor.  You have given me the opportunity to love my neighbor. 

And that's where a tremendous gift of our faith is.  It's unique to the Catholic faith.  It really is.  It's unique to the Catholic faith.  Let me stick my hand in your wound, if it makes you feel better.  Let me give of myself totally, if it makes you feel better.  Let me give myself to you, my neighbor, because I love God and I love my neighbor and He commands me to do it. 

And that is, in the very essence of reality, that we, not the Pope, the bishops, I mean, they're exalted, they get incense everywhere But if you want your spirituality, if you want contact with God, if you want to feel His presence, there it is right there.  You're going to encounter it today.  One of the easiest things, and this is again another hand grenade I threw at the retreat, he was going on about things.  "Well, what you need to do to do love?," and everything else like that, and I said, "Isn't the core of love…" I had to raise my hand, I felt like its school again, "…isn't that what comes from simply going, 'How are you today?' and caring enough to want an answer.  Caring enough and loving enough to hear the answer and to know that in the answer, there is God.  And again, that was another one that just went, phwhew, it kind of exploded on him because he, he literally went [open-mouthed].  He was dumbfounded by the question.  That's the question that I ask you is, “If you want to be close to God, are you able to walk up to someone, and it is easy to pick someone in need, you can see by the way they walk, and simply say, ‘Good morning, how are you,’ and want the answer.”

November 8, 2018