15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Sunday July 10, 2022
Mass Readings for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
- First Reading – Deuteronomy 30:10-14: “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.”
- Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 69: “Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.”
- Alternate Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 19: “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.”
- Second Reading – Colossians 1:15-20: “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
- Gospel – Luke 10:25-37: “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.”
Themes for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
The readings for 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C show that if we keep God’s commandments in our heart, then we will love God and our neighbor. In the first reading we hear that God has already put his commandments in our hearts. The psalm reminds us to keep focused on God. The alternate psalm sing the praise of God’s law. In the second reading Paul tells us that it is through Jesus Christ that we are able to love. In the gospel Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan, who showed love for the person he found in need.
- God’s law
- Love of God
- Love of neighbor
- Passing by difficult situations
See the Homilies and Reflections section and the More Thoughts section for further expansion on these readings and some reflection questions for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C.
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Resources for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
What Is “Moral Law”?
The Catholic Church teaches that moral law comes from God as “fatherly instructions” to help us determine what is right and what is wrong.
Praise the Glory of God
This prayer is based on Psalm 19, which is one of the options for the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday. It praises the glory of God. God has done so many wonders for us that we cannot contain it. We must praise Him.
Teaching About the Nearness of God Through Jesus’ Parables
Jesus, of course, is the consummate storyteller. His parables are a primary vehicle for proclaiming the reality of the Kingdom of God in our midst. See some effective ways to teach about the parables of Jesus.
Homilies and Reflections for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Christ Can Heal Us
The Gospel for this Sunday is one of Jesus’ best-known parables: the story of the Good Samaritan. Karl Barth, who learned it from the Church Fathers, taught that every parable of Jesus, at the deeper level, is finally about Jesus himself. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a good example of this principle; it is fundamentally about Christ healing fallen humanity.
What We Must Do
From Scott Hahn. We are to love God and our neighbor with all the strength of our being, as the scholar of the Law answers Jesus in this week’s Gospel. This command is nothing remote or mysterious—it’s already written in our hearts, in the book of Sacred Scripture. “You have only to carry it out,” Moses says in this week’s First Reading.
Hearing the Voice of God
From Bishop Robert Barron. During the twentieth century, moral relativism was in vogue in elite cultural circles, but now it is the dominant moral outlook of the broader culture. Against this, C.S. Lewis argued for “the universality and inescapability of the moral law.” Although there are subtle moral differences between cultures, if we look close enough, we can discern fundamental moral agreements. The Catholic tradition says that this moral bedrock is a reflection of the Eternal Law in the mind of God. It is the voice of God within us. Listen to that voice.
The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho
Who is my neighbor whom I must love like myself? In the society of Jesus’ time, with its distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, men and women, clean and unclean, this was a trick question. Jesus responds with one of the most beautiful of all the parables, the Good Samaritan. It is found only in Luke’s Gospel. Read more.
More Thoughts for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
God gave Israel the law so they could serve as an example of how to live. However as Jewish society changed from a collective of small farms to a more urban based culture, some of the laws were difficult to interpret and apply. Many teachers and scholars placed emphasis was placed on purity laws which did not require an agrarian society to carry out.
But others asked what the laws really meant. So it would not be unusual for someone to question which law was the most important. And Jesus answered. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. But the lawyer who asks the question offers a challenge, and Jesus replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Samaritans were despised outsiders. They did not follow the law of Moses as the Jews did. Jesus turns the tables by offering one of this group as a person who is truly doing God’s will. The law is meant to form us into people who truly care about each other. We can’t just ignore the pain of those around us.
It is also interesting to note that the Samaritans did not always welcome Jesus either. Just one chapter earlier he was turned away by them. (Luke 9:51-56). But Jesus does not hold a grudge. He makes the Samaritan the hero of this parable anyway.
Reflection Questions for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
- How have I shown compassion recently?
- Is there a person or a group of people whose pain I am avoiding?
- Who has shown me compassion and helped me when I am down?
Quotes and Social Media Graphics for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
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