Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, July 13, 2025, entitled “Who is my neighbor?”

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The Word of God we proclaim today speaks to you of the great commandment : love God and neighbor. The Law already contained this teaching:  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus declares that by living this, you will have life.

This says a lot.  Man’s fundamental attitude must be love. God is love. And man, created in the image and likeness of God, was  created for love and to love. Only by loving is man fulfilled as a person. It is not money, nor power, nor pleasure, nor success that makes man happy.  What makes man happy is love. Therefore, the whole law is summarized and concentrated in love for God and neighbor.

We were created for relationship, for communion, for self-giving.  This is what makes us grow as people: to go beyond ourselves, to open ourselves to God’s love, and to encounter others. In the sincere gift of ourselves, we grow.

Love is the most important “precept”, the all-encompassing and all-inspiring. Love is the meaning of the law.

The problem is knowing who my neighbor is.  Jesus will clarify all this with a parable.  A neighbor is anyone who stands beside someone in need.  A neighbor is someone who approaches someone in need.

Charity, fraternal love, consists in reaching out, in not ignoring the problems and needs of our brothers and sisters, sheltered behind a thousand excuses.  Charity is not only giving, but giving of oneself.  Charity, true love, is giving of oneself, giving one’s life for another, seeking the good of the other. Charity asks nothing in return:  it is free, generous, and selfless.

Christian love is at odds with apathy, individualism, and demagoguery.  The Lord invites you today to be the Good Samaritan of your community.

To be attentive, to be available to listen, to sympathize, to intercede, to help…  He invites you to be a balm that soothes their pain. He invites you to be the good and kind face of God for them. The Lord invites you to lend your hands to heal them, your voice to comfort them, your heart to love them as the Lord loves them.

Pope Leo tells us   that life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters we reveal ourselves as we are.  We find ourselves facing the other, facing their fragility and weakness, and we can decide what to do: care for them or act as if nothing were happening. A priest and a Levite walk down that same road. They are people who serve in the Temple of Jerusalem, who live in the sacred space. However, the practice of worship does not automatically lead to compassion. In fact, before being a religious issue, compassion is a matter of humanity!  Before being believers, we are called to be human.

Dare! Accept the Lord’s call!  Love from the heart, and you will be happy!

Come, Holy Spirit!