COVER STORY

 

Last Sunday, July 15, we meditated on the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. In this Gospel, a teacher of the Law put Jesus to the test: "Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus replied, "What is written in the Scripture?" The man 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 you shall love your neighbor as yourself". Jesus replied, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live." But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus again, "Who is my neighbor?"

 

And we know the rest of the story. It was the Samaritan man, not the priest or the Levite, who took pity and took care of the man who was beaten and left half-dead by the robbers. And at the end of the Gospel Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

 

Brothers & Sisters, have you thought about this question: Who is your neighbor? Is he the man or child on the street begging for money? Is he the person sitting next to us in Church everytime we attend Mass on Sunday? Is he our Parish priest himself? Is he the person whom we work with in the office? Is he the abandoned child in an orphanage or an elderly in a home for the aged? Is he that someone who is sick and dying in a hospital bed? Or is he from our own family or relatives? Our maids and drivers? Or perhaps our real next-door neighbor?

 

Yes, Brothers & Sisters, all these people are our neighbors. All of them are our neighbors. And it is quite easy for us to show our love and mercy for them. Why, because they are all within our reach. But, they are not all the neighbors that we have. We have many "other" neighbors. Those whom we do not even see or much less think about. And sad to say, they are the ones whom we neglect the most.

 

I am talking here about our brothers and sisters in so many countries who need our help. People who have not heard about the Lord because of distance, location or poverty. People who have no opportunity to know the Lord because there is a lack of priests or missionaries to reach them. People who have become refugees because of their faith or who have become members of the underground Church. People who are not even able to practice their religion. People who need Bibles, rosaries, churches and priests to celebrate Masses for them. People who belong to the persecuted Church, the suffering Church.

 

O yes, there are so many of them out there. We may not be able to visit and reach out to them physically. But we certainly can help them. We have received so many blessings for the Lord. Sharing them with those in need will not make us any poorer. (In fact it will make us even richer in the eyes of the Lord.) And one of these blessings is that we are able to practice our faith openly, something which many of our brethren in other countries cannot do.

 

I will be celebrating my birthday on August 1st. And I want to take this opportunity to be bold in asking for a birthday present from ALL of you, not for myself but for God's people. And this is the gift I ask (or should I say beg) from you: a donation to the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

 

ACN was founded by Fr. Werefried van Straaten, a Dutch Norbetine priest. It is a Catholic Charity dependent on the Holy See, which provides pastoral relief to the needy and the oppressed churches. It is now helping over 140 countries all over the world, including Indonesia.

 

Through the generosity of donors, ACN has helped millions of refugees and millions in the persecuted Church. It has helped build and re-build churches, convents and shelters for the homeless. It has built and sent chapel-trucks and chapel-boats, which travel through “churchless” villages to celebrate Masses for the people. Every year, ACN supports over 19,000 poor or persecuted seminarians around the world.

 

Much has been done but still a lot more needs to be done. In many areas, God’s message cannot reach the people because there are no priests, no catechists, no vehicles, no Bibles or even churches. Let us obey Jesus’ command “Go and do the same”. Let us give hope to these many “other” neighbors of ours by supporting ACN. Now that you’ve become aware of their existence, let us no longer neglect them! Let us help them.

 

You can send your donations or write to them at: Aid to the Church in Need, ULD 1781, Seven Hills MC, NSW 1781, Australia. Or you can e-mail at: info@aidtochurch.org or visit them at web: www.aidtochurch.org (They also have offices in the US, Canada, Ireland and Great Britain).

 

I pray that God will return to you a hundredfold His blessings for your generosity to His people. God bless you all.

 

(Note: For those interested, I have available materials on ACN. You may reach me thru plapid@indosat.net.id or call me at 0816-4814868)

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