One of the most well-known stories in Scripture is the Good Samaritan. 

In the Gospel of Luke, we hear about a man who is beaten, robbed and left for dead. Religious men of high standing intentionally pass by him on the other side of the road. But then comes the Samaritan — who would have been his enemy in scriptural times — who treats the man with extravagant love. 

He cleans and bandages the man’s wounds, takes him to an inn, cares for him through the night, pays the innkeeper, instructing him to care for the man and expresses his plan to return. 

We’re familiar with the story. But there’s a detail we often miss: the Good Samaritan came prepared. He had oil and bandages packed, extra coins ready in his bag. It’s as if he were intending to meet someone along the way. 

He was living his day with intentional love. 

It had me thinking, how do we prepare our spiritual bags? How do we make our hearts ready to encounter others with such intentional love throughout our day? 

I believe the answer is Christ truly present in the Eucharist. The Incarnate God who not only is with us always, but as we receive our Lord’s Body and Blood is truly within us. 

Receiving Christ in the Eucharist at Mass and adoring his true presence in Eucharistic adoration prepare our hearts in several ways. First, it puts God where God needs to be at the center of our heart, soul and mind. Second, we become what — or rather Who — we receive. And third, by disposing ourselves to God’s truth and love, Christ teaches us that we are wonderfully made in His image. Despite our faults and failings, He comes to us not in a generic sense, but personally. 

But I think the most profound impact is the more we receive Him and the more we adore, the more we come to see the truth that we are the beaten man left for dead, and He is our Good Samaritan. Healing our wounds, accompanying us, caring for our needs in a magnificent way. Through the Eucharist we receive His gaze and we come to know His intentional and extravagant love for us. 

And as we do, we pack our bags. He is making our hearts ready. 

By encountering Christ in the Eucharist, we are changed and drawn to bring this same gaze, this same love, to everyone we encounter along the way. 

I invite you to ponder what invitation Christ is extending to you today. Perhaps you feel drawn to make a weekly visit to Him in a nearby adoration chapel, even if it’s for just a short time. Or maybe you have a stirring in your heart to attend an additional morning or noon Mass this week. 

However He is speaking to you, know that the Lord desires to draw you nearer, to tend to your wounds, to heal your heart with His extravagant love. And ultimately, He is preparing each one of us to echo with our own lives the words He spoke in the Gospel of Luke after sharing the beloved parable of the Good Samaritan: “Go and do likewise.”