The parable of the Good Samaritan starts with its most important truth: we are to love our God with all of our heart, mind, body, and soul, AND love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the age-old challenge for all of us. Bishop Barron writes that the Good Samaritan is a symbol of Jesus himself in his role as savior of the world. “We spend our lives now looking for those stranded by the road, victimized by sin. We don’t walk by, indifferent to them, but we do what Jesus did. Even those who are our natural enemies, even those who frighten us.” Many read this story and ask God, “What do you expect me to do?” The answer lies in our relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus. Yet our relationship with Jesus is tied to our relationship with others, especially the least, lost, and forgotten. Who are the least in our lives? We all have our list of the least of these. They are the people who are outside of our circle of compassion and concern. They might be individuals of another socioeconomic group, someone with more or less education, people from another political party, people from another culture or lifestyle, or people who don’t believe or think like us. The Christian life is not primarily a list of things to believe. It is about a relationship with God through Christ that forever changes us. This relationship changes all of our other relationships as its power enables us to begin to see the least of these. Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life. We were not merely to believe he was the way, but we are to adopt his way of living. As we say in receiving the Holy Communion, “Lord, help me to become that which I receive.”