Homily: Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
(2 Kings 5:14–17; 2 Timothy 2:8–13; Luke 17:11–19)
12 October 2025
Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA
Have you ever noticed how often God surprises us — and not always in ways we like? How many of us are familiar with Oprah Winfrey? Yes, she trained for a career in journalism. She worked as a TV News co-anchor but she had the tendency to go off script and was too emotional when reporting so she was fired from her job. She was later offered a different job — this time as co-host of a local low-rating talk show. She quickly transformed the show’s ratings and soon she was hosting her own talk show. The enormous success of the Oprah Winfrey Show allowed her to start her cable channel OWN, cementing her status as a media mogul. Getting fired must have seemed like the end of her TV career but God had better plans for her. Sometimes the hardest part of faith is not believing that God can work miracles, but accepting how He chooses to do them.
Sometimes we tend to have our own ideas as to how God should operate or conduct His business of being God. Do we presume to be better and wiser than God? In today’s First Reading, Naaman, the proud army general comes for healing to the prophet Elisha loaded with gifts, servants, and expectations. He is ready for a grand ritual, a dramatic prayer, something worthy of his status. However, what does Elisha tell him? “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan.” (2 Kings 5:10) That’s it. No ceremony, no special blessing. The Jordan was a muddy little river and I bet Naaman almost walked away. God’s grace felt too simple for someone like him. But when he finally humbled himself and obeyed, that is when healing came. God’s power was hiding in something ordinary.
The same thing happens in the Gospel. Ten lepers yearning to be healed beg Jesus for mercy. And what does He say? “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” (Luke 17:14) He does not touch them nor does he pray over them. He just sends them to the priests — still sick, still waiting. In those times, lepers were ostracized and made to live separate from society and only the priests could declare them healed and fit to rejoin the community. Imagine what they must have been thinking as they made their way to the priests still covered with sores. I imagine they might have been grumbling and debating amongst themselves over Jesus’ credibility when one by one, they shockingly discover they were healed! Grace happened on the road when no one else was looking.
This is the scandal of God’s simplicity. We expect fireworks, but God works through small, quiet things — a word of forgiveness, a moment of patience, a prayer said with faith. His grace often offends our pride because it does not look “grand” enough. St. Paul reminds us: “If we die with Him, we shall also live with Him.” (2 Timothy 2:11) And sometimes, what needs to die is our need for control — our insistence that God must act the way we want. If you have ever been to a charismatic gathering you would have observed that the speaker greets the group with a hearty “God is good!” And everyone responds loudly “All the time.” The speaker echoes “All the time…”, and the members declare even louder “God is good.” Many of them may be feeling lost while bearing heavy burdens in life but they still answer with such conviction. True faith means trusting that God is ever generous and merciful even when grace looks ordinary, even when we do not understand what is going on.
Sometimes, the greatest miracles do not come with thunder — they begin in the muddy waters of trust. Today, we ask ourselves: Can we recognize God’s mercy when it comes in forms we do not choose? Can we let Him heal us through the simple, the quiet, the humble? When we finally humble ourselves, that is when grace surprises us most!
Ten Lepers Healed by William West
Sunday Gospel Reflections 