🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 🙏

First Reading - Deuteronomy 30:10-14 

Second Reading - Colossians 1:15-20 

Gospel - Luke 10:25-37

One of the most defining marks of true religion is how we relate to others — especially to those in need. Today's readings bring us back to the heart of God's command: love, not in word or feeling alone, but in action that reaches out to our neighbour.

In the first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people that God’s law is not something distant or mysterious. It is not hidden in the heavens nor far across the sea. Rather, it is “very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The implication is clear: God’s will is accessible, and we are capable of responding to it. The core of this will is love — love of God and love of neighbour — already planted within us, waiting to be lived.

In the Gospel, this love is brought to life in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus responds to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbour?” not with a definition, but with a story. A man is left half-dead by the roadside. A priest and a Levite — respected religious figures — pass by, unwilling to help. But a Samaritan, an outsider in the eyes of the Jews, is moved with compassion. He cares for the man tenderly, sacrificially, and completely. At the end, Jesus turns the lawyer’s question around: it is not about identifying who qualifies as a neighbour, but about being a neighbour. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus says.

The second reading gives us the foundation for this kind of love. Paul presents Christ as the image of the invisible God, through whom and for whom all things were made. This same Christ reconciles all things through the blood of His cross. His sacrificial love is not only the model of how we are to love, but the very power that enables us to do so.

Dear friends, to love like the Good Samaritan is to live the very love of Christ. It requires seeing beyond labels, beyond boundaries, and beyond personal comfort. Love, in the Christian sense, is not simply sentiment. It is action. It is crossing the road to help. It is risking inconvenience for the sake of mercy.

The law of love is near to us — in our hearts and in our hands. Let us not be like those who know what is right but refuse to act. Rather, let us open our eyes to the wounded on our path, and be neighbours to them. For in loving our neighbour, we encounter the face of Christ Himself.

May Christ, the image of God and source of all mercy, empower us to go and do likewise.