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Gospel Reading for July 13, 2025 – Luke 10: 25-37
GLORIOUS SELF
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus 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 neighbor?” 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 himwas 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.”
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The one and only commandment is TO LOVE. It is the umbrella of all the other Commandments. Some may think that God is a dictator because he commands us TO LOVE. Well, even if he is indeed one, he is a good dictator because he is not the one to benefit from it. We are the ones.
The scholar of the law was asking what he had to do to inherit eternal life. We need not even focus on inheriting eternal life. Eternal Life is like a prize at the end of a race. Our life is like a race – it has a start and finish. When at the start and during the race we love, we bring out our GLORIOUS SELF, thus becoming the very best version of ourselves as we finish the race!
Lord Jesus, may we always desire to live in love until we finish life’s race!
