Daily Gospel Reflections for Oct 5, 2026

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Thank you.

Thank you. My brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. October 5th, 2026, Monday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

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Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? He answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. He said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, Who is my neighbor?

Jesus answered, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance, a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite also. When he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return. Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?

He said, He who showed mercy on him.

Then Jesus said to him, Go.

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The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus replied, A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise, a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But the Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was dangerous, and the man in Jesus' story had suffered terribly. He had been robbed, stripped, beaten and abandoned. He could not help himself. Anyone travelling along that road could see that he needed help. Yet, the first two people who saw him continued on their way. The priest saw him and crossed to the other side. The Levite did the same. Jesus does not tell us what they were thinking. They may have had reasons for avoiding the injured man, but whatever their reasons were, the result was the same. They saw his suffering and kept walking.

Then, the Samaritan arrived.

Jesus' listeners would not have expected the Samaritan to become the example worth following. Jews and Samaritans carried a long history of hostility and mistrust. Yet, it was the Samaritan who stopped. He did not first ask whether the injured man belonged to his community, whether helping him would inconvenience his journey, or whether someone else might come along later. He saw a suffering person, and compassion moved him to act. That difference matters. All three men saw the same person. Only one allowed what he saw to change what he did. We can also become used to seeing needs around us without responding. Sometimes we are busy. Sometimes we assume someone else will help. At other times, we simply do not want the inconvenience. Compassion can interrupt our schedule. It may require our time, attention, money, patience or energy. It can place another person's need directly in the middle of whatever we had planned for the day. Not every act of compassion has to be dramatic. The person lying beside our road may be a family member going through a difficult season, a colleague who has become unusually withdrawn, an elderly neighbour who needs a little help, or a friend who keeps saying everything is fine even when something clearly is not. Sometimes, compassion begins by noticing what we might otherwise overlook. There is also a difference between feeling sorry for someone and allowing compassion to affect our choices. We can hear about another person's difficulty and feel bad for a moment, then return to our own concerns. The Samaritan did more. He stopped his journey and became personally involved. His compassion became action. Jesus invites us to live in the same way. Faith cannot remain only in prayer, worship or what we say we believe. Our relationship with God should shape the way we respond to people, especially when helping them brings us no reward.