by: Deacon Paul Rooney (deaconpaul@cox.net)
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Cycle “C" - October 10, 2004)

Q. 288: Is there any special meaning for including a hated Samaritan in the group of ten lepers who were healed in today's gospel reading (Lk 17:11-19)?

A. 288: If you can think of something that is “doubly repulsive” to you -- perhaps the experience of a grotesquely overweight person who gets on your elevator, stands by you and then loudly and deliberately belches and passes gas with prolonged gusto -- then maybe you can get a sense of the instant disgust that the word “Samaritan” would bring to a Jewish person in Jesus' culture -- and not only a Samaritan, but a leper as well. Jesus will use this Samaritan to teach us a powerful lesson.

You will remember another Samaritan from a story in Luke 10, the so-called “Good Samaritan.” He was the only passerby who stopped to help an injured traveler and provide compassionate care. Jesus taught on that occasion that this man, this Samaritan, was the only one who embodied the second law of love, to love your neighbor as yourself (e.g., see Lk 10:27). Jesus told the Scribe on that occasion that if he, too, acted towards others in that manner, then he, too, would live (“inherit eternal life”).

In today's story another Samaritan embodies the first law of love, to love God with your whole being. After being physically healed, the Samaritan returned to Jesus, the source of healing, glorifying God with heartfelt gratitude and love. For this action, Jesus told him that he was more than healed; he was saved by his faith in action (Lk 17:19).

Jesus has indicated the parameters of divine love: there are no boundaries whatsoever! God loves everyone! Luke's gospel is a gospel of universal salvation, good news to all who believe. And that leads to an ethical demand for you and me -- to carry on his mission of universal love, expressed by our actions.

Know Your Catechism! The Word was made flesh so that all humankind would be saved through his love, including Samaritans and others forced into the fringes of society by their self-centered and self-righteous neighbors (CCC #456-7). Jesus teaches us that everything hangs on the two great love commandments (CCC #2055). How often do you show your proof of gratitude by visiting Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament (CCC #1418)?

Deacon Paul Rooney
Mary Our Queen Parish, Omaha