Lk. 10:25-37: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…, and your neighbor as yourself”

We encounter one of the most challenging parables of the Gospel. It all begins with a question: “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”. Jesus reminds us that the key is to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. But the doctor of the law wants to clarify: “And who is my neighbor?”.

Jesus responds with a story that breaks the mold; the neighbor is not the one who belongs to my group, my religion, or my close circle, but everyone who needs me, and the true disciple is the one who becomes a neighbor to the wounded. 

This parable confronts us because we, too, often “pass by on the other side”, out of fear, lack of time, or indifference. And yet, Jesus tells us: “Go and do likewise.” Eternal life is not inherited with empty words or rituals, but with the ability to stop, look compassionately, and act.

The Lord invites us to recognize the wounded on our path: the poor, the migrants, the sick, those who suffer loneliness, those who carry wounds in their hearts. To whom should we become neighbors today? Who are the wounded on the road today?