Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In our catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus had taught the great commandment of love for God and neighbour.  In reply to the question: “Who is my neighbour?”, he recounts the story of the priest and the levite who pass by a man in need at the side of the road.  Their religiosity is ultimately inauthentic, for it does not find expression in service to others.  Love, the Lord tells us, is never abstract or distant; it “sees” and it responds.  The compassion shown by the Samaritan is an image of the infinite mercy of God, who always sees our needs and draws near to us in love.  The command to love God and neighbour, then, is supremely practical; it entails caring for others even to the point of personal sacrifice.  By the end of the parable, we see that the “neighbour” is not so much the man in need, but rather the one who responded to that need with compassion.  Jesus tells all of us to be neighbours in this sense: “Go and do likewise.”  He himself is the model of the Good Samaritan; by imitating his love and compassion, we show ourselves truly to be his followers.