On the fifteenth Sunday of ordinary time, Pope Leo XIV presided over the Holy Mass in the Pontifical Parish of San Tommaso da Villanova, in Castel Gandolfo. During the homily, the pontiff focused on the profound meaning of the parable of the good Samaritan, taken from the Gospel of Luke (10,25-37), launching a heartfelt appeal to “do not go further” in front of pain and suffering.
“This story continues to challenge us even today – said the Pope – interpelas our life, shakes the tranquility of our asleep or distracted consciences”. At the center of reflection, the gaze of the Samaritan, who unlike the priest and the Levite “saw and had compassion”: “The gaze makes the difference – explained Leo XIV – because it expresses what we have in the heart: you can see and pass further, or see and feel compassion”.
The pontiff wanted to emphasize that the good Samaritan is the image of Christ himself, “who looked at humanity without going further, with eyes, with heart, with bowels of emotion and compassion”. Jesus, he recalled, is “the compassion of the Father towards us”, and in him God made himself close to the injured man: “He came to heal our wounds, pouring the oil of his love and mercy over us”.
Recalling the words of Sant’Agostino and Pope Benedict XVI, the Pope explained that “believe in Christ and follow him means letting himself be transformed to have his own feelings: a heart that is moved, a look that sees and does not pass beyond, two hands that help and soothe the wounds”.
The Holy Father then expanded the reflection to today’s reality: “The road from Jerusalem to Gerico is the road traveled by all those who sink into evil, suffering and poverty; It is the path of many stripped, robbed and sacked peoples, victims of oppressive political systems, of an economy that forces them to poverty, of the war that kills their dreams and their lives “.
Hence the crucial question: «And what do we do? Let’s see and pass further, or do we let ourselves pierce the heart like the Samaritan? ». The Pope has warned against the risk of limiting solidarity to those close to us, similar or similar, remembering that Jesus “turns the perspective by presenting us a Samaritan, a foreigner and heretic, who makes himself close”. And citing Jesus of Nazareth By Benedict XVI, he added: “I have to become a person he loves, a person whose heart is open to let himself be disturbed in the face of the need for the other”.
The homily ended with an invitation to live a real fraternity: «Seeing without passing further, stopping our busy races, let the life of the other break our hearts. This makes us close to each other, generates fraternity, drops walls. And finally love becomes space, becoming stronger than evil and death ».
At the end of the Mass, Leone XIV delivered a symbolic gift to the parish priest of the community: the glass and paten used during the celebration. “Tools of communion – he said – that they can be invited to all of us to live in communion, to truly promote this fraternity, this communion that we live in Jesus Christ”. The assembly responded with a long applause.
