NEWSLETTER INSERTS

For this coming Sunday, we offer extracts from 'Samaritanus Bonus' - on the dignity of human life based on the parable of the Good Samaritan in this Sunday's Gospel. Also included are quotes from St Bonaventure whose feast day is on 15th July and Blessed Giorgio Frassati who will be canonised by Pope Leo XIV on 7th September this year.

‘The Good Samaritan, in fact, not only draws nearer to the man he finds half dead; he takes responsibility for him. He invests in him, not only with the funds he has on hand but also with funds he does not have and hopes to earn in Jericho: he promises to pay any additional costs upon his return. Likewise, Christ invites us to trust in his invisible grace that prompts us to the generosity of supernatural charity, as we identify with everyone who is ill: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). This affirmation expresses a moral truth of universal scope: we need then to show care for all life and for the life of everyone and thus to reveal the original and unconditional love of God, the source of the meaning of all life’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

‘To that end, especially in hospitals and clinics committed to Christian values, it is vital to create space for relationships built on the recognition of the fragility and vulnerability of the sick person. Weakness makes us conscious of our dependence on God and invites us to respond with the respect due to our neighbour. Every individual who cares for the sick (physician, nurse, relative, volunteer, pastor) has the moral responsibility to apprehend the fundamental and inalienable good that is the human person. They should adhere to the highest standards of self-respect and respect for others by embracing, safeguarding and promoting human life until natural death. At work here is a contemplative gaze that beholds in one’s own existence and that of others a unique and unrepeatable wonder, received and welcomed as a gift. This is the gaze of the one who does not pretend to take possession of the reality of life but welcomes it as it is, with its difficulties and sufferings, and, guided by faith, finds in illness the readiness to abandon oneself to the Lord of life who is manifest therein’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

‘If the figure of the Good Samaritan throws new light on the provision of healthcare, the nearness of the God made man is manifest in the living experience of Christ’s suffering, of his agony on the Cross and his Resurrection: his experience of multiple forms of pain and anguish resonates with the sick and their families during the long days of infirmity that precede the end of life’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

“A heart that sees” is central to the program of the Good Samaritan. He teaches that it is necessary to convert the gaze of the heart, because many times the beholder does not see. Why? Because compassion is lacking […] Without compassion, people who look do not get involved with what they observe, and they keep going; instead people who have a compassionate heart are touched and engaged, they stop and show care. This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly. These eyes identify in weakness God’s call to appreciate that human life is the primary common good of society. Human life is a highest good, and society is called to acknowledge this. Life is a sacred and inviolable gift and every human person, created by God, has a transcendent vocation to a unique relationship with the One who gives life’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

‘The Church learns from the Good Samaritan how to care for the terminally ill, and likewise obeys the commandment linked to the gift of life: respect, defend, love and serve life, every human life! The gospel of life is a gospel of compassion and mercy directed to actual persons, weak and sinful, to relieve their suffering, to support them in the life of grace, and if possible to heal them from their wounds’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

‘The Good Samaritan, who puts the face of his brother in difficulty at the centre of his heart, and sees his need, offers him whatever is required to repair his wound of desolation and to open his heart to the luminous beams of hope'.

The Samaritan’s “willing the good” draws him near to the injured man not just with words or conversation, but with concrete actions and in truth (cf. 1 Jn 3:18). It takes the form of care in the example of Christ who went about doing good and healing all (cf. Acts 10:38)’.

Samaritanus Bonus, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2020

‘Through the visible wounds of Christ we see the wounds of invisible love’. T

St Bonaventure, The Mind’s journey to God.

‘To read the book of creation is the privilege of the highest contemplatives, not of natural philosophers, for the former alone knows the essence of things  and do not consider them only as traces’.

St Bonaventure

‘Aroused by all things to the love of God, Francis rejoiced in all the works of the Lord’s hands. As a manifestation of God, creation brought Francis great joy, and took him to its life-giving principle and cause. In beautiful things Francis saw and fell in love with God who is Beauty itself and through the signs of God’s presence imprinted on creation Francis followed his beloved everywhere. For Francis all things were a ladder by which he could climb up and embrace him who alone could satisfy his heart’.

St Bonaventure, The Life of St Francis.

‘With all the strength of my soul I urge you young people to approach the Communion table as often as you can. Feed on this bread of angels whence you will draw all the energy you need to fight inner battles. Because true happiness, dear friends, does not consist in the pleasures of the world or in earthly things, but in peace of conscience, which we have only if we are pure in heart and mind.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.