Reading to Approach the Week
Philippians 3:7–9
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Paul’s words are a declaration of spiritual freedom. He had everything the world could offer from status, reputation, and authority, yet he realized that none of it compared to the joy of knowing Christ. The more he pursued worldly gain, the more he lost sight of eternal truth. But in losing it all for Christ, he became enlightened to a new treasure well beyond earthly rewards.
Faith in this sense is not a passive belief but a reordering of the heart. It’s letting go of everything that props up our pride and instead anchoring ourselves in what truly matters which is a living and present relationship with God. The world teaches us to measure our worth by success, but Paul flips that completely. Our worth is found in surrender. What once seemed valuable becomes empty when compared to the “surpassing worth” of knowing Jesus personally.
To count everything as loss doesn’t mean despising the world but seeing everything through the lens of faith. Wealth, ambition, recognition can all have their place, but none can be our foundation. Christ alone is our gain. When we build our identity on Him, even suffering becomes a gift, because it draws us closer to the One who gives life meaning.
Paul’s confession sets the tone for this week’s readings, which remind us what happens when we forget where our true treasure lies and how faith, gratitude, and remembrance bring us back to it.
Sunday Mass Reflection
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading - 2 Kings 5:14–17
Building Your Life on What God Has Done
Naaman, a great general suffering from leprosy, obeys the prophet Elisha and is healed by washing in the Jordan River. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he takes two mule-loads of Israel’s soil home so that he may always stand on the ground of the God who saved him. Naaman breaks the human pattern of forgetting God’s grace and builds his life upon it. His story reminds us that true healing doesn’t end in relief; it begins in thanksgiving and remembrance.
Second Reading - 2 Timothy 2:8–13
The Word Cannot Be Chained
Paul, imprisoned for preaching Christ, urges Timothy to remember that Jesus Himself is the Gospel “raised from the dead, a descendant of David.” The faith Paul defends is not a philosophy or moral system but a living relationship with the Risen Lord. Though Paul is bound in chains, he declares that “the word of God is not chained.” Our mission as Christians is to let that Word speak freely through us especially in hardship, suffering, or persecution.
Gospel - Luke 17:11–19
The Gratitude That Keeps Faith Alive
Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one, a Samaritan, returns to thank Him. Gratitude is what separates simple healing from true conversion. Like Naaman, this one leper recognizes the source of his renewal and chooses to live in remembrance rather than forgetfulness. Faith that lasts is faith that remembers, praises, and gives thanks daily for what God has done.
Homily Reflection
The Word Cannot Be Chained So Let Your Gratitude Speak
Paul writes to Timothy with the heart of a father: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my Gospel.”
He isn’t simply giving Timothy an abstract philosophy or moral system. He’s giving him a person. Christianity is not primarily an idea or a moral code; it’s a relationship. The Gospel is Jesus as Bishop Barron puts it. Every teaching, every doctrine, every act of charity flows from knowing Him personally.
The Church has always battled the temptation to reduce Christianity to ideas and to turn it into “gnosticism,” a tidy program of ethics and self-improvement. Bishop Barron then has us notice that Paul roots the Gospel in history. Jesus, the descendant of David, the true King who fulfills every promise Israel longed for. David gathered the tribes; Christ gathers the nations. David built a temple of stone; Christ becomes the living temple, conquering sin and death through the Cross. And because He is Lord, not Caesar, not any earthly power, Paul sits in chains while the Word of God remains free. You can chain the messenger, but never the message. And that is why it is so important that we have the courage to speak it.
That freedom is what we’re invited to live in daily. Yet how often do we forget it? Fr. Mike points to the pattern we all fall into: crisis hits, we cry out to God, He answers, we rejoice, but then we tend to move on as if nothing happened. And we forget where our gratitude should be.
Naaman the leper breaks that pattern. After his healing, he refuses to go back to life as before. He carries home two mule-loads of Israel’s soil so he can stand upon the earth of the God who saved him. In other words, he builds his life on what God has done.
Only one of the ten lepers in the Gospel does the same. One returns to Jesus, praising and thanking Him. Father Mike reminds us that leprosy is a biblical analogy. Just as the lepers in the ancient world are good as dead we are also good as dead in our sin.
We do the same as the nine lepers in the Gospel unless we intentionally live in remembrance. The Christian life begins with an encounter. An unmistakable moment when you realize Christ is real, that He loves you, that His mercy is personal. But like any relationship, that spark isn’t enough. It must be lived, fed, and remembered daily or it fades.
Fr. Mike breaks this down simply:
- Notice what is good in your life.
- Trace it back to its source. Every genuine good comes from God.
- Give thanks. Not only privately, but publicly, speaking the Word that can’t be chained.
When we remember Jesus, not just by what He taught, but who He is, we stay grounded in gratitude and mission. The Gospel is not a philosophy to debate or a feeling to chase. It is a relationship to live and proclaim.
Father Mike quotes Pope Benedict XVI in his homily: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty ideal, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”
So remember Him daily. Build your life on what He has done as Naaman did and have the courage to speak the Word that cannot be chained.
Saint of the Week: St. Paul of the Cross
Feast Day: October 20th
Born: 1694 – 1775
Patronage: Evangelists, suffering, spiritual renewal
Who He Was
Born Paolo Francesco Danei in northern Italy, St. Paul of the Cross grew up in a devout but struggling family. From a young age, he was deeply affected by the suffering of Jesus on the Cross and came to see the Passion as the ultimate sign of God’s love and the place where all human pain meets divine mercy. Despite opportunities for worldly success, he chose poverty and prayer, dedicating himself to the mission of awakening people’s hearts to the power of Christ’s suffering and resurrection.
After years of solitude and penance, he received a vision in which he saw himself clothed in a black habit with a white heart and the name of Jesus emblazoned on it. This became the habit of the Passionist Order, which he founded to preach the Gospel of the Cross throughout Europe.
What He Did
Paul of the Cross spent decades traveling across Italy preaching missions, hearing confessions, and calling people back to faith. He lived a life of strict poverty, fasting, and constant prayer. His preaching wasn’t just about repentance. It was about remembering the love that Christ showed through His suffering. He often said that meditating on the Passion was the fastest way to grow in holiness because it keeps the soul anchored in gratitude, humility, and love.
He endured years of rejection, misunderstanding, and even physical illness, yet never turned bitter. His joy came from union with Jesus Crucified. In his letters, he wrote to countless people who were suffering, teaching them to unite their pain to the Cross and discover peace there.
Why He Matters Today
St. Paul of the Cross lived what this week’s readings and reflections teach. That everything else is loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. He believed that remembering the Passion keeps us from spiritual forgetfulness. When life gets comfortable, we forget the Cross; when we forget the Cross, we forget our Savior.
He is a living answer to Paul’s words in Philippians: to count all things as loss for Christ. He chose rejection over comfort, humility over praise, and suffering over ease. He chose this not out of gloom, but out of love. His message is simple: the Cross isn’t the end of life but the door to it.
“When you are alone and feel desolate, remember that Jesus is looking at you with love and compassion, and He is inviting you to unite your suffering with His.”
“The remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is the most powerful means of converting sinners, and of drawing souls to His love.”
Closing Thoughts
Faith weakens when we start living like our blessings came from our own hands. The moment we stop remembering what God has done, we drift toward pride and self-reliance.
Like Naaman and the tenth leper, we are called to stop the cycle of forgetfulness and to stand on the soil of what God has done and refuse to go back to life as before. Gratitude is a disciplined decision to recognize the source of every good thing, to speak it out loud, and to live differently because of it.
This week, be deliberate. Notice what is good. Trace it back to its source. Give thanks not quietly, but boldly, because the Gospel isn’t a theory to be debated or a blessing to be stored away. It’s a relationship that demands remembrance.