Today, in the center of the story of the Good Samaritan, there raises the fundamental question of what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus Christ simply refers to the Bible, which is the indisputable reply. But the topic drifts towards a practical matter, of ambiguous elucidation in those days: "Who is my neighbor?”

To such a specific question, Jesus answers with this parable... And now the Samaritan enters the stage… He does not ask how far his obligations of solidarity extend. Nor does he ask about the merits required for eternal life. But something else happens: his heart is wrenched open and he himself now becomes the "neighbor", heedless of any question. The burden of the question thus shifts here: The issue is no longer whether the other person is my neighbor or not. It is I.

— O Lord! Help me to be a person who loves, a person whose open heart is shaken by other’s needs. Then I will find my neighbor, or it will rather be him who will find me.