Readings for Sunday July 11th, 2010 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As I was reading next Sunday’s Gospel I was reminded of an article (NY Daily News) I read shortly after 9/11/2001. It reminded me of the religious bigotry that existed following that terrible day; the same bigotry that caused so much hatred in Jesus’ time was/is alive and well. What did Jesus say about it? This Sunday’s Gospel tells it all.

WTC HERO'S HALF ARAB & ALL AMERICAN
BY DENIS HAMILL
Tuesday, April 9th 2002, 1:64AM

The Middle East gets worse. And as I read the screeds of pundits, hear talk radio rants and watch TV cable news in these troubling days, I worry about the dangerous anti-Arab sentiment poisoning the media and the citizenry.
Assaulted by anti-Arab political rhetoric, one-sided Mideast reporting and general Arab-bashing, I am reminded of an Arab-Irish American firefighter I interviewed days after Sept 11.
Charlie Kawas' story got lost in the shuffle as reporters and columnists fought for space in the glut of stories.
Kawas sipped his morning coffee in his home in upstate Leeds on Sept. 11 and watched live as the second plane smashed into the twin towers.
Retired from the FDNY since June after 22 years on the job, this Brooklyn-born and -raised ex-Marine grabbed his old firefighting gear, jumped into his car and sped south.
"I drove at 85 and 90 mph, passing through checkpoints by flashing my old badge and ID," said Kawas, who is half Syrian-American and half Irish-American, and as all-American as any New Yorker you'll ever meet.
"I knew that my brother firefighters might be lost. I feared cops like my brother Paul, a retired NYPD emergency service cop, might be trapped. I knew hundreds of fellow Americans would be lost."
When Kawas arrived at Ground Zero some 90 minutes later, he was stunned.
"Worst job I'd ever seen," he said. "A war zone."
And as he dug for missing friends in the steaming ruins of the first American battlefield of the first war of the new century, his Celtic and Arabic blood began to boil.
"We've been taking too much crap - the embassies, the Cole, the last Trade Center bombing," he said. "I'm so P.O.ed that if they'd take me back I'd reup in the Marines tonight and take a plane, bus, train, boat or camel and head right over there to the desert. Right behind 10 million other Americans."
Back on old turf
By the end of the dark day, Kawas returned to his old Brooklyn neighborhood of Windsor Terrace and entered crowded Farrell's Bar.
He was told that about six regulars from this one tavern were feared missing, including Farrell's bartender and FDNY Capt. Vinny Brunton, whom he later learned was killed.
The barroom was a microcosm of the vast American wake. Kawas ordered a beer, stood at attention and formed his hand into a kazoo and bleated a rendition of "God Bless America," that hushed the raucous bar.
When Kawas was done, tough teary men burst into applause. Emotions ran high - cops, firefighters, sanitmen, hardhats - itching for revenge.
"If anyone has an American flag, fly it high," Kawas told me then. "My father was of Syrian heritage, born in this country, an American, a decorated soldier in the American Army. There's 10 kids in my family. Every one a patriotic American.
"I have another brother who was in the Marines. One in the Air Force. So I'm an American before I'm anything else."
But Kawas has no patience for ignoramuses who blindly point the fingers of hate at all Arabs, hardworking, taxpaying, law-abiding New Yorkers like himself.
"What angers me is when a friggin' idiot in a bar or on the street retaliates against all Arabs, because when they do that they are doing exactly what these terrorist SOBs did to us," Kawas said.
"If people want to beat up Arab cab drivers, attack their stores, harass their women, they are a disgrace to the United States of America that I love. That's un-American. I'll fight them, too."
Spared from indignities
He's asked if he ever received any anti-Irish backlash in the wake of Timothy McVeigh's monstrous act in Oklahoma City.
"Of course not," Kawas said. "And I'm half Irish. But by their thinking, you can blame me for everything the PLO and IRA ever did. In the USMC and the FDNY I worked with every ethnic group on the planet. Great people, good friends."
For weeks following Sept. 11 Kawas volunteered at Ground Zero, rummaging through a blizzard of dust, poisoned air, jungles of mangled steel and the rain-soaked remains of pulverized human beings, some of whom were his friends.
"It was sheer horror," he said. "But the most encouraging thing was all the American flags flying, the ironworkers busting their butts, the cops, the Fire Department, truck drivers, the military, nurses, doctors, Red Cross, civilians - all working as one. As Americans.
"And we all wanted somebody's --- for this. I don't give a damn what nationality he is, he did it to America."
As the Middle East rages, and dangerous anti-Arab xenophobia mounts, remember that when you bash all Arabs, you're also bashing outstanding Americans like Charlie Kawas.

Denis Hamill Email: dhamill@edit.nydailynews.com


Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:10-14

10 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. 11 “For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. 12 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?’ 13 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?’ 14 No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.”

Reading II Colossians 1:15-20

15 Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Gospel Luke 10:25-37

25 There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27 He said in reply, You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.” 29 But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 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. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 32 Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 33 But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. 34 He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ 36 Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” 37 He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

This reading from Luke makes us take a deeper look at the life and message of Jesus, here we are confronted with the question who is our neighbor, but after reading this parable, who would you say is your neighbor?

• Any one in need
• Those you have a reasonable hope of being able to help
• Those you are most afraid of helping
• Everyone-even my enemies


Have you ever been helped by a stranger? What happened?


With whom do you identify most in this parable right now?

• the legal expert- always asking the tough questions
• Jesus- under great pressure to say or do the right thing
• The mugging victim- bruised and bleeding
• The Good Samaritan- fulfilled by passing on God’s love
• The innkeeper- constantly being asked to take care of someone else’s needs


What risky thing is Jesus calling you to do with your life? What would it cost you?

• Loss of time
• Loss of energy
• Financial sacrifice
• Strain on your relationships
• Strain on your emotions

Who has been a Good Samaritan to you in your life?

How can you be a Good Samaritan to someone this week? IHN, tommy