Saint Columbkille - Brianne

Moses said to the people:

If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God,

and keep his commandments and statutes

that are written in this book of the law,

when you return to the LORD, your God,

with all your heart and all your soul.

For this command that I enjoin on you today

is not too mysterious and remote for you.

It is not up in the sky, that you should say,

'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us

and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'

Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,

'Who will cross the sea to get it for us

and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'

No, it is something very near to you,

already in your mouths and in your hearts;

you have only to carry it out.
Deuteronomy 30:10-14

Though this week's gospel, the story of the Good Samaritan, seemed to be an easy reading to blog on - I found myself drawn to the first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy. What a simple instruction, “... heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes..." God's directions for us are not some intangible thought or an unclear set of expectations, but instead, clearly laid out for us in the Bible (in the Commandments, in the form of parables).

In the reading, Moses knows this, "...it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out." Well, there's the hard part. God has given us a road map to glory in heaven, yet how often do we steer off the path laid before us and divert our course to the paths of sin and denial of Him? Just like the priest and the Levite, who walk past the man who fell victim to robbers and lay half-dead in the road, we choose to not carry out God's will and cross to the other side of the road.

Today, I pray I can be a Good Samaritan and carry the love of Christ in my mouth and in my heart and in my actions.