Liturgy of the Word:
2 Kgs. 5:14-17;
Ps. 98:1, 2-3, 3-4;
2 Tm. 2:8-13;
Lk. 17:11-19.
(28th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
1. Indigenous People’s Sunday.
In their July 1978 assembly, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) designated every second Sunday of October as IP Sunday. This decision highlighted the struggle of IPs against the destruction of forests. IP Sunday also hoped to encourage lowlanders to express solidarity with the IPs’ struggle for self-determination. But we continue to see extensive and destructive development projects and worsening global climate change. We are called to be stewards of our environment and partners of IPs in their struggle for self-determination and cultural integrity.
2. Extreme Poverty Day. In 1992, the United Nations declared 17 October as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. In response, former President Fidel Ramos declared 17 October as National Day for Overcoming Extreme Poverty. In 2004, former President Gloria M. Arroyo proclaimed 17-23 October as National Week for Overcoming Extreme Poverty. She also designated the National Anti-Poverty Commission to lead the yearly observance.
3. In turn, the CBCP dedicated the 2nd Sunday of October to a day for honoring efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
4. It is estimated that about 17.5 million, or 15.5 percent, of our total population live below the poverty line of P13,873 per month (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2023). Nine of our country’s richest billionaires have more assets than half of the country’s total population (Oxfam International).
5. On 4 October this year, on the feast of St. Francis, “Il Poverello” (the Little Poor Man), Pope Leo XIV signed his first major document, his Apostolic Exhortation on love of the poor, “Dilexi Te,” “I have loved you” (Rev. 3:9). He issued it on 9 October. It follows up on Pope Francis’ Encyclical, “Dilexit Nos,” “He has loved us,” on the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus. Pope Leo’s “Dilexi Te” completes what Pope Francis had begun to write before his death.
6. In “Dilexi Te,” Pope Leo XIV explores the biblical roots of love of the poor, today’s faces of the poor, the gospel call to move to action, to conversion of structures of social injustice as well as the conversion of hearts, towards a civilization of love. The love of God is inseparable from love for the poor. The poor are not simply a social category; they are the “very flesh of Christ.” If we are to follow Christ, we have to give the poor a privileged place, a preferential option. The extreme poverty of all those whose human dignity is denied should constantly weigh on our conscience.
7. Gospel, Lk. 17:11-19 — The Healing of 10 Lepers. As Jesus passes through Samaria and Galilee on His way to Jerusalem, 10 lepers call for His mercy. Jesus heals them and tells them to show themselves to the priest (as prescribed by Moses in Lev. 14:2-9). As they go, they are healed. The Samaritan leper finds himself healed. Glorifying God, he returns, bows down on his knees, and thanks Jesus. Jesus wonders why only a Samaritan returned to give thanks.
This healing provides a biblical incident of God’s love for the poor, Jesus’s preferential option, and Pope Leo XIV’s “Dilexi Te.”
8. We recall that in the 5th century, the exiled Nehemiah was permitted by the Persian rulers to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. The Temple and the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The Samaritans, however, opposed the rebuilding and had it halted. This began the hostility between Samaritans and Jews.
9. The Samaritan was not only a foreigner, but a Samaritan. He was a half-breed — half-Jew, half-Gentile. He belonged to a hated race that had different religions and worshiped on Mount Gerizim, not on Mount Zion.
10. But the love of Jesus was inclusive. In fact, he had a special love for the poor, those who had no rights in Israel — orphans, widows, and foreigners (e.g, Naaman the general, 2 Kgs. 5:14-17), even if Samaritan. We see his interactions with Samaritans in the New Testament: the Samaritan Woman at the well (Jn. 4: 1-42) and the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37).
11. In the context of present day biases and prejudices between Muslims and Christians, and our looking down on Indigenous Peoples, the love of Jesus for foreigners and Samaritans is instructive and calls for renewal. For Jesus, compassion and mercy have no barriers. The moral lessons, gleaned from the story of the 10 lepers, are incisive and peremptory. If we are to follow Christ, we have to follow his inclusive love and his preferential option for the poor.
12. Prayer: Almighty and Merciful God, graciously keep from us all adversity, so that, unhindered in mind and body alike, we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are Yours, through Christ Your Son and our Lord. Amen.