‘Who is my Neighbor?’

Our neighbors are everyone — even our perceived enemies.”

Marissa Flores Madden

Some of my earliest memories include wonderful neighbors.

My siblings and I spent countless hours riding bikes, playing dress-up and exploring nearby woods with friends from our street.

Similar ages, interests and family values cemented our bonds.

Even when I moved to Ecuador years later, despite having little in common with my neighbors, we respected our differences enough to learn and grow from one another.

Today, my gratitude continues for each new neighbor I encounter.

Since moving in to our home a few years ago, the family next door has regularly shared the harvest from their garden, left treats on our porch for holidays and called out across the yard to invite us to play or to pray.

My whole life, my neighbors have been easy to love. 

When we are met with courtesy and compassion, it’s natural to respond in kind.

Shared values and interests can quickly grow into lifelong friendships.

But what happens when we don’t know enough about a person to determine if we have shared values?

What happens when customs and culture create a seemingly irreconcilable conflict?

What happens when our neighbors are judgmental and unkind?

The parable of the Good Samaritan — initially told in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” — answers all these questions and more.

In this well-known story, the one who shows mercy to the man beaten by robbers and left on the side of the road is not someone we would consider to be a neighbor.

In fact, he is an enemy. Yet he becomes the hero — the one with whom we are meant to identify.

Indeed, Jesus calls us to be Good Samaritans.

Oftentimes this message is oversimplified as a call to help strangers.

But the beaten man wasn’t just a stranger.

He was “the other” — the one with whom the Samaritan vehemently disagreed. 

It can be illuminating to imagine a modern re-telling of this parable.

Instead of Jews and Samaritans, plenty of political and religious groups could assume these roles.

Regardless of the cast, the moral of the story remains clear: neighbors are not defined by proximity or commonality.

Our neighbors are everyone — even our perceived enemies.

Jesus concludes the parable with a question: “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

This question puts the onus back on us.

The command to love our neighbors is not about determining who is worthy, deserving love and mercy.

It is about how we choose to respond, honoring the dignity of every person, regardless of the situation or our differences.

We pray, reflect and grapple with this parable at Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri Family Immigration Services’ new parish program titled “Who is my Neighbor?”

This Lent, we will begin the program at Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City and St. John Henry Newman Parish in Columbia.

Grounded in the Good Samaritan narrative, each evening event will include a shared meal, prayer using both Sacred Scripture and sacred art, personal reflection, small and large group discussion and an introduction to Catholic Social Teaching and immigration.

Chelle Smith-Vandergriff, Director of Service and Justice at Newman Parish, expressed enthusiasm to host this new initiative.

“The question ‘Who is my Neighbor?’ is central to our faith and calls us to respond with equal love for the stranger and those on the margins as for family, friends, and one’s own life. Care for immigrants and refugees is not partisan — it is pastoral, biblical and deeply Catholic. This program offers our parishioners and the wider Catholic community a meaningful opportunity to engage in the reality of immigration with clarity and compassion, rooted in the Gospel message.”

Father Matthew Flatley, Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, shared in her excitement recalling, “One of my favorite professors in seminary, a brilliant theologian, once said, ‘Nothing can dull the blade of truth found in the Gospel. It will cut through and expose anything that is false or hypocritical in any age and in any culture. The truth of the Gospel speaks for itself.’”

Fr. Flatley continued, “We must search this truth out for ourselves and embrace it and embody it in our time and in our culture.” 

We invite you to join us for “Who is my Neighbor?” this Lent — at I.C. Parish on Thursday, March 12, from 6-8:30 p.m., or at Newman Parish on Thursday, March 19, from 5:30-8 p.m.

Share a meal, reflect on Scripture, and engage in conversation about how the Gospel calls us to love beyond comfort and familiarity.

Together we will explore what it means to be a neighbor in our own lives and communities today.

And, if you would like this initiative brought to your parish, please reach out to Catholic Charities at 573-635-7719.