The parable of The Good Samaritan is so familiar to us that we often see only one of its dimensions—namely, that we are called to imitate the actions of The Good Samaritan. It’s a crystal clearexplanation of the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
But this parable also has another dimension. The Good Samaritan is a self-portrait of Jesus and what he’s done for us. You see, we’re like the man left on the side of road to die. We’ve been robbed of our original holiness by origin-al sin, and we’re laying on the side of the road of life half dead and in need of a Savior.
Then Jesus comes to us like The Good Samaritan and he heals and restores us with the oil and wine of his Sacraments. He even pays for our salvation with his own sacrifice on the Cross. And then, he gives the boundless riches of his grace to his own innkeeper, the Church, who in turn watches over our convalescence and our growth in Christian maturity, until Jesus comes again.
If Jesus commands us to be Good Samaritans to one another, it’s only because he has walked the path of The Good Samaritanahead of us.
The Image of the Sacred Heart
Jesus has never stopped telling the world that he wants to be its Good Samaritan, that his commandments and sacraments are the healing ointment for our wounds of selfishness and sin.
Throughout the centuries he has expressed this message in many ways. For example, in the 1600s he communicated this message to the world in a series of visions that he gave to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, a humble French nun. These visions were the beginning of the famous devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
When he first appeared to St Margaret Mary, he stood in front of her and showed her his heart, describing it as a furnace of love.
Then he reached out and took her heart in his hands. She saw her heart as if it were a tiny little atom. Jesus put it inside his own heart, where it caught fire and started to burn with the flames of his love.
On another occasion, he allowed her to look directly at his heart. She described it as being as bright as the sun and as clear as crystal, and at the very top was a cross. On one side was a deep gash—the wound he received on Calvary when the soldiers thrust a spear into his side.
Wrapped tightly around the middle of his heart was a ring of thorns. Jesus explained that these thorns were the indifference and ingratitude that he received from the men and women he loved—the very ones for whom he had died.
Growing in Humility
Today, by reminding us of our need for Jesus, the Church wants to strengthen in us a vir-tue that we always need more of: humility. Humility is simply the serene recognition of our complete dependence on God, both for our existence and for our lasting happiness. This virtue is the secret to interior peace and healthy relationships.
There are three things you can do to align your life with this great virtue and experience more of the benefits of Jesus, the Good Samaritan:
First, go to confession if you haven’t been in awhile. Nothing brings out the virtue of humility quite like a good confession.
Second, if you’ve been slacking off on your prayer time, you need to renew your commitment to daily prayer. The very act of praying to God increases this great virtue.
Third, start thinking less about yourself and more about the needs of others. Start being sincerely interested in those around you.
Jesus is our Good Samaritan, and he has called us to imitate him in this act of divine love. How can we say no to such a generous Heart?