Our Grocery Store Good Samaritan: Making a connection between everyday life and our Catholic faith

Last Thursday, the kids and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things we had forgotten on our previous shopping adventure. During the checkout process, the groceries ended up in a different cart, which left no room for the kids. As I struggled to corral two shopping carts, a man and his young son approached us and offered to help. I gladly accepted. As we pushed the carts out to the truck, I explained to my kiddos that the man and his son were our Good Samaritans that day, that they saw we needed help and decided to do something about it. We were all very thankful and expressed our gratitude to the man and his son with great enthusiasm.

Today’s Gospel reading at Mass was the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It was so easy to connect our experience at the grocery store with today’s Gospel, and we talked about it on the ride home. Our circumstances weren’t dire like that of the poor man in the parable who was robbed and beaten, but I remember feeling like the man and his son who helped us were showing us great mercy through their simple act of kindness. For those few moments, that man and his son were living their lives for others, for our Lord Jesus, whether they were aware of it or not.

May God bless them today and always. May God help us to be charitable in our thoughts, words, and deeds– to our family, friends, and neighbors. Amen.

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.” — Luke 10:27