Pope Leo XIV celebrated Sunday Mass at the Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, offering a stirring reflection on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and calling Catholics to embrace a “revolution of love.”
The Pope, currently on summer retreat in the historic papal residence outside Rome, said the parable “constantly challenges us to think about our own lives,” warning that it “troubles our dormant or distracted consciences,” and exposes “the risk of a complacent faith… incapable of feeling and acting with the same merciful compassion as God,” according to Vatican News.
Pope Leo reminded the faithful that “how we look at others is what counts, because it shows what is in our hearts.” Echoing the Gospel message, he explained that the Good Samaritan is a figure of Christ himself—“the eternal Son whom the Father sent into our history precisely because he regarded humanity with compassion and did not walk by.”
“Humanity was descending to the depths of death,” he said, but “God has looked upon us with compassion; he wanted to walk our same path and come down among us. In Jesus, the Good Samaritan, he came to heal our wounds and to pour out upon us the balm of his love and mercy,” according to Vatican News.
The Holy Father emphasized that once we experience that healing, we are called to extend it to others. “Once we are healed and loved by Christ,” Pope Leo said, “we too can become witnesses of His love and compassion in our world.”
Citing Pope Francis, his predecessor, Pope Leo recalled the phrase “Jesus is the compassion of the Father toward us.” He also drew from Saint Augustine, who taught that Christ “wanted to be known as our neighbor,” and is the one “who cared for the half-dead man beaten by robbers.”
The Pope urged Catholics to develop “a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need.”
He further encouraged the faithful to break through boundaries of division. “Are we content at times merely to do our duty, or to regard as our neighbor only those who are part of our group, who think like us, who share our same nationality or religion?” he asked. Jesus, he said, “overturns this way of thinking.”
Quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Leo added: “The Samaritan… does not ask how far his obligations of solidarity extend… Something else happens: his heart is wrenched open.” Pope Benedict explained that “the Samaritan, the foreigner, makes himself the neighbor and shows me that I have to learn to be a neighbor deep within.”
Pope Leo concluded with a heartfelt appeal: “Let us look to Christ, the Good Samaritan. Let us listen again today to His voice. For He says to each of us, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
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