Good Samaritan - Today's Situation & Reactions

First a Prayer:

Lord, who is my neighbor?

-1 was hungry and you helped me buy rice, while trying for a long term solution to my emptiness.
-1 was a stranger in a city where everybody was suspicious of me, and you trusted me, and put me at ease.
-1 was unemployed, without clothes, food and money or security; you tried to help me find a job and rebuild my life.
-I was sick and unable to get into a hospital or see a doctor; you tried to find a hospital bed for me and a compassionate doctor who was more concerned about my health than the money I did not have.
-I was in trouble with the law for my mistakes, and you tried to defend me while encouraging me, to change my ways; as no lawyer came forward, I lost and went to prison for a time, during which you came to visit me without judging me.
-I had a motorcycle accident and profusely bleeding, you called the ambulance and the police while everyone was afraid to get involved.
-I was considered "low caste" by other folks and you tried to give me some status, face and pride in myself.
-In all these difficulties, you never really succeeded. You just tried and that enabled me to plod on for the moment.
-You stood by me and tried. That was all I needed to be myself in a place where I just existed.
-You did these simple, compassionate things until the day when all systems, institutions and hearts were changed into a new history.

Thank you for being my neighbor!
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Man on a Harley and God and Woman - Just for a laugh

A man on his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, 'because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.'

The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.'

Church and the Touching Example of "Preaching"

His name is Tim. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes.
This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.
He is brilliant. Kind of profound and very, very bright.
He became a Christian while attending college.
Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church.
They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it.
One day Tim decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair.

15 Sunday C - Good Samaritan - Homilies

Thomas O’Loughlin,
Introduction to the Celebration

We live in the age of the sound bite: a snappy phrase that covers over a complex situation; and rarely in matters of faith is such a sound-bite possible. Yet today at our gathering to join the Lord at his table we are asked to recall one of the most famous sound bites of all time. A lawyer stands up to ask Jesus a question:

‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And as the good teacher Jesus does not just feed him the answer but draws it out from him: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ It sounds simple. But keeping both dimensions, loving God and loving neighbour is difficult; and an even bigger challenge is making sure that for us neighbour is more than the people we like, and so excludes all forms of sectarianism, racism, other barriers humans tend to set up between us and ‘them’.

Become a Lake

The old Master instructed the unhappy young lady to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” the Master asked. “Very bad” Said the lady.
The Master then asked the young lady to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young lady’s chin, the Master asked, “How does it taste?” “Good!” remarked the apprentice. “Do you taste the salt?” asked the Master. “No,” said the young lady.

Don’t Judge the Composer

When visiting in a parish neighborhood, a pastor stopped at a house and asked the man who lived there to visit his church the next Sunday, mentioning at the same time that the man’s neighbor went to that same church. On hearing this, the man said he would never go to that church because he wanted nothing to do with a religion that would have a man like his neighbor in it. In fact, he said, his neighbor was the worst neighbor he ever had.

14 Sunday C - Mission - Homilies

Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration 

When we think of Jesus preaching we think of people flocking to hear him, just as today we gather to re-affirm our identity as his people gathered now at his table. But in today’s gospel we hear of people being sent out from Jesus to prepare his way before him. We gather now, but we are also the people he has charged to prepare his way in the world today. To be a disciple is not only to follow, but to go ahead of the Lord announcing his presence. Let us reflect on these twin aspects of being Christians: following the Lord, and presenting the Lord to the world. We are called not only to be ‘disciples’ but ‘apostles’.

21st Century Classroom - ppt

The 21st Century Classroom from Kim Cofino

21st Century Classroom

The 21st Century Classroom from Kim Cofino

The Sharing Economy

Final le web london (june 2013) from Mark Suster