Our Lady of the Rosary

When we are called to show mercy, it can seem to open us up to fear of mockery and getting hurt again and again. But Jesus does not leave us alone to suffer, as He shows in the Gospel of Luke, chapter ten. We read this on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, which our Lord gave us through His Mother.

In the Gospel, a scholar tries to test Jesus to see if Jesus would speak against Jewish law. He asks, what must one do for eternal life? Jesus tells him what the greatest commandment is. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. But the scholar asks him, who is my neighbor? Jesus tells him a parable about mercy. It is not a parable of a Jewish scholar showing mercy, but a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered great enemies of the Jews. They worshipped at a different place then the Jews. Not only this, their genetic heritage was questionable, for they intermarried with the Gentiles, so there was a lot of tension between these two groups. The scholar and the Samaritan both knew the Torah, and they both know the greatest commandment. But Jesus tells us that it was the Samaritan who showed mercy, not the priest, nor the Levite. Now this is not a judgement against the priest or Levite, they likely were adhering to the laws of ritual purity. But the Samaritan knew he was taking a risk helping the man, for he knew the tensions between Samaria and the Jews. Yet, Jesus speaks of the Samaritan man showing the greatest mercy.

When the Church celebrates our Blessed Mother under the title Our Lady of the Rosary, we are reminded of the legend speaks that Saint Dominic was trying to convert a group of heretics who called themselves the Albigensians. They had embraced a gnostic movement that was pretty crazy, which taught that matter was evil and only certain people were saved. One day he received a vision of the Blessed Mother who gave him the Rosary as a tool against heretics.

Brothers and Sisters, we know the risks that come with loving Jesus, for He tells us this Himself. There are risks in loving God and our neighbors, but God will always help us. The Samaritan took a risk to love a neighbor, but the Lord rescued Him in his abundant mercy. May our prayer today be that God increases our faith, so we can preach Christ Jesus, the love of God and neighbor.