OCTOBER 9th 2022. TWENTY-EIGHT SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: Lk: 17:11-19
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.
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Gospel: LK 17, 11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he travelled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" 
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. We can witness miracles and receive healings, and yet not be changed in the way that really matters

In the Gospel, ten lepers are healed. We might think that the miraculous nature of the event is what matters here, but it is not. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, one can have enough faith to move mountains, but if one does not have love, such miracles are worth nothing. Jesus tells the lepers to present themselves to the priest, but according to the rules laid down in Leviticus, a leper could only present himself to the priest after he had been healed, so that the priest could ratify the fact that he was now to be re-admitted to society. But Jesus tells them to go to the priest while they are still lepers! The fact that they go is a great act of obedience to Jesus, a display of trust in his power to heal. This already would give us enough content for a homily, but Luke’s account adds a detail that becomes the central point in the whole narrative. Only one of the lepers, - a Samaritan – returns, prostrates himself before Jesus and gives thanks. The Samaritan is an outsider. Often it is the outsiders – the tourists – who appreciate things that the locals take for granted. Jesus says, “Go, your faith has saved you”. It is important to note well this distinction: ten were healed but only one was saved. The miracle was not sufficient to bring the other nine to authentic faith in the Lord. We can receive healing, witness a miracle, and not be changed by one jot.

 

2. If the graces we receive are spectacular but do not lead to a more authentic relationship with God then they are worthless

The salvation of the Samaritan was not to be healed of leprosy, but to enter into a relationship of gratitude with the Lord, to recognize that God was present in Jesus. In fact, the Samaritan returns to glorify Jesus before going to the priest to get the required authentication. He knows what really matters. He realizes that he has encountered God. In the same way, the graces we receive, if they do not lead us to a more authentic relationship with God, then they are wasted, not matter how miraculous or spectacular they are. In the Book of Revelation, even the devil is able to do spectacular things. It is not miracles that convert the world, but faith and love. It is trust in the Lord and living as his children that demonstrates salvation to this world.

 

3. Illness and suffering can often be the road to salvation, whilst health and security lead nowhere.

Very often an illness or an experience of suffering can be the road to love. Being healed is of little use if it does not lead to salvation. Being healed and being saved are two different things! Health is not the primary thing! Salvation is what really counts, living the fullness of life. Arriving at the true depths of our existence is more important than being in good health or having all one’s problems resolved. There are people in perfect health that know nothing of love, whilst some people in great suffering have a marvellous love, who know how to forgive. This counts much more!

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

We are all lepers in the sense that we are distorted and incomplete. There is no such thing as a human being who feels completely whole or "normal". There are issues that eat away at each of us from within and cry out for resolution. There is a tendency for human beings to become preoccupied with their own particular problems. We tend to think that if this or that particular issue was resolved then we would be whole and complete. This is the trap that nine out of ten lepers fall into! Nine of the lepers are healed of their illness and then go on their way, thinking that all is hunky-dory. Only one of the lepers realizes that health is not everything. He wishes to praise his God and maintain a relationship with the Lord who saves him. Our lives instead are filled with the idolatrous tendency to believe that physical wellbeing is everything. We seek this wellbeing incessantly and end up developing a superficial attitude towards the things that really count in life. But health is not everything! It is better to be physically infirm with a heart that praises God than to be physically sound with a heart that has gone astray.