By David Peter csc –
Readings: Jon 1:1-2:2,11; Lk 10: 25-37
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. He is a great missionary, who has set before us a great example for living in poverty, giving up all possessions for the sake of God and building his Church.
One of the touching sayings of St. Francis is, “Preach always, use words if necessary.” It is an invitation for all of us to preach Christ through our daily deeds.
In the first reading, we see that Jonah was unwilling to do the will of God and was going away from the presence of the Lord. The intervention of God through the heavy storm made him realize and accept his mistake. The message is that in our daily lives, sometimes we fail in our relationship with God and go away from his presence.
However, God never lets us go away from him. Instead, he comes after us and leads us to his will. The gospel of the day leads me to reflect on a question: how can I preach without words? We know the story of the Good Samaritan very well. The priest who sees the wounded man does not help him. Similarly, Levite does the same thing.
Finally, the Samaritan dressed the wounds of the man and did the needful. We find that the Samaritan preached the gift of love and mercy through his deeds. I feel that being in the presence of the Lord would mean being in love. The love of God and the love of neighbours is manifested in our daily deeds of mercy, love, and charity. This is the message Jesus gives us as we see in the last verse of today’s gospel “Go and do likewise”. Let us seek the grace of God that we may become bearers of hope, love, and healing not merely through words but in our daily deeds as well.