How many times have we heard the story of the Good Samaritan? It is one of those stories we hold deep in the treasury of our lives. But, how many times do we take that story out and give it a new face, a new relevance.

Service in the name of Jesus is a state of mind and thus a state of the heart. Martin Luther King once said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But… the Good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

How many times do you imitate the Good Samaritan so that it does not remain just words on a page but the real history of your Christian life?

“For this command is not too mysterious and remote for you.  No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.” If spiritual sloth keeps you from becoming a good Samaritan, then through diligence in your practice of corporal and spiritual works of mercy and regular confession to a priest, you may conquer that vice.

In conquering the vice of laziness and embracing once again the fullness of the Word of God, you will be re-ignited to “love the Lord, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

If you act on these words, Jesus will live in you.