And who is my neighbour?

6 OCTOBER (Lk 10,25-37)

It is vital to know who “my neighbour“ is. Not so much for the sake of pure humanism and neither of petty, sterile and interested philanthropy. Butbecause he is the only key placed in our hands to open the door to Paradise and enjoy a blessed eternity, in the immortal life in the holy light of God, surrounded by his eternal love.

Let’s say immediately that “my neighbor” is not the abandoned dog. It is true idolatry putting a dog on the same level as a man, rather before the man himself. It is true wickedness and infinite folly, loss of intelligence and of all true wisdom, talking of animal adoption. Yesterday we talked about adoption, today the language has become even more humiliating, mortifying the true dignity of men. There is a talk of giving a father and a mother to a dog. A man becomes the father of a dog. A woman the mother of it. Never a more abysmal idolatry could have been achieved. It is a sign of the decay in which humanity has precipitated. If then these obscene and irreverent, anti-human proposals are those that govern and guidethe masses the ones to do them, we must conclude that even the person led has lost his mind and intelligence.

Never might the believer be against animals. They are creatures of God. They were made for man. But they are not men. They must always be treated as animals, never as men, never as human beings, never with the same rights as men. A child must be adopted. Life must be given to him. Instead, just the opposite happens. The child is killed in the womb of the mother. The child due to selfishness is not even conceived. Then affection is poured on the dog, the cat, on any other animal and it is treated like a son. The table of love, charity, solidarity, affection is for the son, for man, for the poor, the suffering, the sick, the stranger and the prisoner. If then some crumbs fall thy are for the dog and for the animal. The dog is not my neighbour. Who then is my neighbour? It is every man who is in need. It is the thirsty, the hungry, the one without clothes, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger. It is the left half dead on the roadside. It is also my enemy in need. Before my neighbour I have to leave every other activity, even the most noble one of the service of God in his holy liturgy and in his most holy temple, to devote myself to him, to help him, succour him, so that he can draw life from my life, health from my health, goodness from my good, hope from my charity, time from my time and safety from my presence. If I do this, not one day, but forever, he will give me the key to my eternity.

There was a scholar of the law  who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

With this parable Jesus gives new light to the entire Old Testament. For the neighbour to be redeemed and to be saved, God that is not the neighbour of a man, because he is not a man, is made flesh and makes himself a neighbour. With the Incarnation, God is the neighbour of every man. He, too, to bring his soul and his body in heaven, needs the key. If provides it on the cross, dying to give true life to every one of his brothers.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us neighbour to every man.