Meditation

Homily of Pope Francis

As Jesus was walking along, ten lepers came to meet him, crying out, “Have mercy on us!” ( Lk 17:13). All ten were healed, but only one returned to thank Jesus: a Samaritan, a kind of heretic in the eyes of the Jews. At first, they walked together, but then this Samaritan made a difference when he returned “praising God with a loud voice” (v. 15). Let us reflect on these two aspects that we can glean from today’s Gospel: walking together and giving thanks .

First, walking together. At the beginning of the story, there is no distinction between the Samaritan and the other nine. It simply speaks of ten lepers, who form a group and, without division, go to meet Jesus. Leprosy, as we know, was not only a physical scourge—which we must still strive to eradicate today—but also a "social disease," because at that time, for fear of contagion, lepers had to remain outside the community (cf. Lev 13:46). Consequently, they could not enter inhabited centers; they were kept apart, relegated to the margins of social and even religious life, isolated. Walking together, these lepers express their distress at a society that excludes them. And let us note well: the Samaritan, even though he is considered a heretic, a "foreigner," forms a group with the others. Brothers and sisters, shared illness and fragility break down barriers and overcome all exclusion.

This is a beautiful image for us too: if we are honest with ourselves, we remember that we are all sick at heart, that we are all sinners, all in need of the Father's mercy. And then we cease to divide ourselves based on merit, the roles we play, or any other external aspect of life, and the inner walls crumble, the prejudices fall away. Then, finally, we rediscover ourselves as brothers and sisters. Naaman the Syrian, too—as the first reading reminds us—although rich and powerful, had to do one simple thing to be healed: he had to plunge into the river in which everyone else was bathing. He first had to remove his armor, his clothes (cf. 2 Kings 5): how good it is for us to remove our outer armor, our defensive barriers, and take a deep bath in humility, remembering that we are all fragile inside, that we all need healing, all brothers and sisters. Let us remember this: the Christian faith always asks us to walk together with others, never to be solitary walkers; it always invites us to go out of ourselves towards God and towards our brothers and sisters, never to close ourselves off; it always asks us to recognize that we need healing and forgiveness, and to share the frailties of those around us, without feeling superior.

Brothers and sisters, let us examine whether, in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work and frequent each day, we are capable of walking together with others, of listening, of overcoming the temptation to barricade ourselves in our self-referentiality and to think only of our own needs. But walking together—that is, being "synodal"—is also the vocation of the Church. Let us ask ourselves to what extent we are truly open and inclusive communities toward everyone; whether we are capable of working together, priests and laity, in service to the Gospel; whether we have an attitude of welcome—not only with words but with concrete actions—toward those who are far away and toward all those who approach us, feeling inadequate because of their turbulent life experiences. Do we make them feel that they are part of the community, or do we exclude them? I am afraid when I see Christian communities dividing the world into good and bad, saints and sinners: this is how we end up feeling superior to others and pushing away many of those whom God wants to embrace. Please, always include, in the Church as in society, still marked by so much inequality and marginalization. Include everyone. And today, the day Scalabrini becomes a saint, I would like to think about migrants. The exclusion of migrants is scandalous! In fact, the exclusion of migrants is criminal; it causes them to die before our very eyes. And so, today we have the Mediterranean, which is the world's largest cemetery. The exclusion of migrants is disgusting, it is immoral, it is criminal. Not opening the doors to those in need. “No, we are not excluding them, we are sending them back”: to the camps, where they are exploited and sold as slaves. Brothers and sisters, today, let us think of our migrants, of those who are dying. And those who are able to enter, do we receive them as brothers or do we exploit them? I leave the question alone.

The second aspect is thanksgiving. In the group of ten lepers, only one, seeing himself healed, returns to praise God and express gratitude to Jesus. The other nine are healed, but then each goes his own way, forgetting the One who healed them. Forgetting the graces that God gives us. The Samaritan, on the other hand, makes the gift he received the beginning of a new path: he returns to the One who healed him, he goes to know Jesus closely, he begins a relationship with Him. His attitude of gratitude is therefore not a simple gesture of courtesy, but the beginning of a journey of recognition: he prostrates himself at Christ's feet (cf. Lk 17:16), that is to say, he makes an act of adoration; he acknowledges that Jesus is Lord, and that He is more important than the healing he received.

And brothers and sisters, this is also a great lesson for us who benefit daily from God's gifts, but who often follow our own path, forgetting to cultivate a living, real relationship with Him. It's a terrible spiritual disease: taking everything for granted, even faith, even our relationship with God, to the point of becoming Christians who no longer know how to be amazed, who no longer know how to say "thank you," who don't show gratitude, who don't know how to see the wonders of the Lord. "Sweethearted Christians," as a woman I knew used to say. That's how we end up thinking that everything we receive each day is obvious and owed to us. Gratitude, knowing how to say "thank you," leads us, on the contrary, to affirm the presence of the God of love. And also to recognize the importance of others, overcoming the dissatisfaction and indifference that disfigure the heart. It is fundamental to know how to give thanks. Every day, let us say thank you to the Lord; every day, let us thank one another: in our families, for the little things we sometimes receive without even wondering where they come from; in the places we frequent daily, for the many services we benefit from and for the people who support us; in our Christian communities, for the love of God we experience through the closeness of our brothers and sisters who, often in silence, pray, offer, suffer, and walk with us. Please, let us not forget this key word: thank you! Let us not forget to hear and say “thank you”!

The two saints canonized today remind us of the importance of walking together and knowing how to give thanks. Bishop Scalabrini, who founded two Congregations for the care of migrants, one male and one female, affirmed that in the common journey of those who emigrate, we should not see only problems, but also a design of Providence: "It is precisely because of the forced migrations due to persecutions," he said, "that the Church has gone beyond the borders of Jerusalem and Israel and has become 'catholic'; "Thanks to today's migrations, the Church will be an instrument of peace and communion among peoples" (L'emigrazione degli operai italiani, Ferrara 1899). There is a migration underway here in Europe right now that is causing us great suffering and compelling us to open our hearts: the migration of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Let us not forget today the wounded Ukraine! Scalabrini looked beyond, he looked ahead, toward a world and a Church without barriers, without foreigners. For his part, the Salesian brother Artemide Zatti, with his bicycle, was a living example of gratitude: cured of tuberculosis, he dedicated his entire life to helping others, caring for the sick with love and tenderness. It is said that he was seen carrying the body of one of his patients on his shoulders. Full of gratitude for what he had received, he wanted to express his "thank you" by taking upon himself the wounds of others. Two examples.

Let us pray that our holy brothers may help us to walk together, without walls of separation, and to cultivate that nobility of soul so pleasing to God which is gratitude.

HOLY MASS AND CANONIZATION OF THE BLESSED

Jean Baptiste Scalabrini - Artemide Zatti

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, October 9, 2022

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