“Encourage one another and build up each other,” Paul tells the Thessalonians in our epistle reading. That sounds like such a simple injunction, such an easy rule for Christian living. Putting it into practice in our day-to-day lives, however, is another story. It means focusing our attention on others, noticing their needs, seeing places where they need encouragement. That, of course, is what loving our neighbor is all about. It takes having our eyes opened with compassion to really see those around us. It requires looking beyond our own self-centered universe. Too often we don’t want to be bothered. We just close our eyes to the needs of others or walk by on the other side of the road as the priest and the Levite did in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk.10:29-37).

We would do well to remember that, from time to time, we all need encouragement and building up. Look at the parable of the talents in today’s gospel. Just suppose for a moment that the one given five talents and/or the one given two talents had taken the time and energy to encourage the one given one talent. How different life might have been for the fearful one who buried his single talent! With the support of the other(s), perhaps he too could have doubled his investment and been rewarded. But they were too busy to pay attention to him and his problems. They had their own concerns, and look what happened.

That, of course, is not the point that Jesus was making with the parable, but if we look at the story through such a lens of compassion, we may come to see just how important living out the call to “encourage one another” can be to the world around us. And when we need encouragement in our lives, may a Good Samaritan come our way.