Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of several of France’s highest literary awards. He is best remembered for his novel “The Little Prince”. It’s the story of a pilot who crashes his plane  in the desert.  While he is repairing his plane, he is visited by a little prince from outer space.  They become great friends.  Little by little the little prince teaches the pilot some very important lessons.  One of these is: only with our hearts can we see rightly,  important things are hidden from our eyes.  In this week’s gospel, Jesus tells the story of a man who was on a journey,  he is ambushed,  beaten and robbed; and he  is left for dead.  Three people pass by,  two of them see him and keep on walking,  the third one  sees him and he has compassion on him,  and there is no end to his kindness.   We do not know his name but he has gone down in history as the good samaritan.  We can ask what is the difference between him and the other two. They saw with their eyes, they saw not just a person, but embarasament, problems,  difficulties and so they continued on their way.  The good samaritan saw with his heart;  He saw a person in pain; a person in need;  and so he helped him,  as if he were his best friend.  When Jesus finishes his story,  he tells his listeners: you do the same.  We are all called to be good samaritans;  to help those who are in need;  to help those who are in difficulty,  even though they may be strangers and may be different to us.  Let us ask for the grace to listen with our heart and not just with our eyes. Let us ask for the grace to have compassion  and not just walk on by.