For October 5, October 12, October 19, and October 26
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 5, 2025
Readings: Habakkuk 1:2–3; 2:2–4 • Psalm 95:1–2, 6–7, 8–9 • 2 Timothy 1:6–8, 13–14 • Luke 17:5–10
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100525.cfm
The Paulist Biblical Commentary on the Gospel of Luke reminds us to take a look at the surrounding verses of a biblical passage. If we do that with our Gospel, we find in the preceding two verses a powerful but difficult teaching on forgiveness. Jesus says that if another sins against us seven times in a day and asks to be forgiven seven times, we must still offer forgiveness. His use of the number seven is a way of saying that we must always forgive. No wonder, then, that the disciples respond in our first verse with the request to increase their faith. Forgiveness, when we have been hurt, is not simple to begin with, but is all the more problematic when we have been wronged repeatedly. It takes a lot of strength of will in order to be the type of forgiving person that Jesus demands. It takes the spirit “of power and love and self-control” that we hear about in Second Timothy to live up to this challenge.
I can imagine Habakkuk hearing this and letting God know in no uncertain terms just how hard it is to do what Jesus asks. He is a particular favorite of mine among the prophets, because he is not afraid to say what is on his mind, as we see in the beginning of our first reading. He is totally honest with God. The prophet challenges God regarding the way in which He is running things. We do not have the whole reading in our lectionary, but Habakkuk will continue by asking God how a people less righteous than the Judeans can be used in order to punish them. It takes some doing before we get to the latter part of the reading when God assures him that “the rash one has no integrity, but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
It takes both humility and faith to be able to do what Jesus asks, but that is part of the call to discipleship that he places before us, and the latter portion of our Gospel passage drives home the attitude of humility that we must have. The example of master and slave that he gives us is certainly not one with which we are comfortable, but it would have made sense to those who first heard him speak. Nonetheless, the lesson on humility is eternally valid.
In this section of the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus is journeying toward Jerusalem, he has much to teach the disciples about the cost and meaning of discipleship. We need to keep in mind, as well, that what he says are not just nice suggestions, but necessities if we are to be true disciples, and this includes not just what we do, but our attitudes as well, as we see in the latter portion of today’s Gospel. What he presents to us in this ancient analogy is a clear reminder that doing what we must do does not automatically earn us praise. From a more positive perspective, though, we are called to get out priorities straight. We need to focus not on what we believe that God owes us, but rather on an attitude of humility toward the God to whom we owe everything that we have and are.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 12, 2025
Readings: 2 Kings 5:14–17 • Psalm 98:1, 2–3, 3–4 • 2 Timothy 2:8–13 • Luke 17:11–19
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101225.cfm
When I was first ordained, I was assigned to retreat work. In the course of our regular programming, we would host retreats for AA and Al-Anon. I would help the retreat preachers with the logistics and practicalities, and I would occasionally sit in on the open conferences to get a sense of what people were thinking and reflecting on. I certainly learned a lot, and there was a particular phrase that I heard so many times that came back to me in reflecting on our readings for this Sunday: have an attitude of gratitude. So many different people would speak of how important that idea was to their recovery. In our readings today, it is hard to not see the importance of this virtue.The story of Naaman the Syrian is a story of Elisha healing an enemy of Israel. This is evident in that the beginning of the passage speaks of a “captured” Israelite servant girl suggesting that Naaman go to Elisha, the prophet in Samaria. Elisha is shown in this entire section of 2 Kings as caring for and performing miracles for all different types of people, including the poor and foreigners, as in this case. Having been healed, Naaman recognized God’s power and shows a sense of gratitude first to Elisha, but then when Elisha will not accept a gift from him, the gratitude is shown where it should be, namely to the God of Israel. He now recognizes who it is who has really healed him and arranges things with Elisha so that he will effectively be able to worship the God of Israel on Israelite soil.
In our Gospel passage, we see Jesus in his compassion healing ten people from leprosy, a disease that would have forced these people to remain outside of the community, a particularly painful problem in a close-knit society. These people had been rendered outcasts, and now, through Jesus’ healing action, they can reenter society. The joy and excitement must have been palpable, and it is more than just probable that they did, in fact, feel gratitude toward Jesus, but it is only one, a Samaritan, who returns to actually thank him. The fact that it is a Samaritan is a particularly poignant lesson. The rapport between Jews and Samaritans at the time of Jesus was not good to say the least. Jesus himself refers to the man as a “foreigner.” So, the man would have been an outcast on two levels, as a person suffering from this skin disease and as a Samaritan. But this is the one who gives us such a beautiful lesson about having an attitude of gratitude.
We have so much for which to be grateful. It is too easy in life to focus solely on the negative. If we but look at the gifts we have, it can help us to develop that attitude of gratitude. Our reading from Second Timothy can help to remind us of what we can focus upon, that as chosen ones, we may strive to “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.” Putting that into its proper perspective, how can we not feel grateful?
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 19, 2025
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101925.cfm
The Gospel reading is as clear as can be with the opening line: “Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” The example that he gives us of the persistent widow and the unjust judge is a good object lesson, particularly in Jesus’ day when there would not have been a developed “social net” for a widow. All she would have with which to protect herself would be her persistence in the face of the unjust judge.
The lesson concerning the judge is clear as well. God is not the unjust judge, but rather the one caring for “the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night.” The only difficulty for me is Jesus’ question and response: “Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” I tend to think that it is a universal experience that we do not always see our prayers answered as we present them or in what we would consider to be a speedy fashion. There are really no simple answers to this, but what ultimately makes sense to me is to try to hold fast to the idea that God has a view of what I may ask that is way beyond how I may see it. I might want God to give me the immediate answer just as I would like it, but in the final analysis, is that what is best for me? I might think so, but my perceptions might not be on target and the patience counseled in 2 Timothy might be what helps me to see it more clearly.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 26, 2025
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102625.cfm
In our reading from 2 Timothy, we have Paul reflecting on his coming end. He can reflect on the fact of his perseverance and that he has “kept the faith,” which would have been precisely what would have given him the strength to not be discouraged when abandoned in his trial, and that gave him the ability to forgive those who deserted him by praying that it not be held against them. Sirach tells us, “The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens,” which is precisely the image that we have of Paul in our second reading.
In the Gospel, we have the famed story of the “Pharisee and the Publican.” It is important to note that the Pharisee, as we meet him, is not a bad person. Quite the opposite. Since Jesus says that he prayed to himself, we have no reason to not believe that he avoided greed, dishonesty, and adultery, and that he practiced both fasting and the paying of tithes. All good things, yet Jesus says that he does not return justified. The tax collector, at the time of Jesus and in the world of Jesus, would have been among the most, if not the most, hated of people. The tax collector would not only have been working for the Romans, but he could exact well beyond what was due to be paid to Rome in order to make a profit for himself. So why is he justified while the Pharisee is not? The very simple answer is their attitudes. The Pharisee’s attitude is one of self-praise as well as denigration of another as we see when he takes notice of the tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand, recognizes himself as a sinner and begs God for the mercy that he needs.
Jesus’ parable, in my mind, is a parable of hope and of challenge. Again, the Pharisee was a good person, but the challenge that he offers us is to beware of our attitude, particularly toward those around us who may not seem to measure up to our standards. The hope is in the person of the tax collector, hated as he was in Jesus’ time. He is a lesson to us that God heals and forgives us, especially when we take care to approach God with humility and contrition.
About Fr. David Monaco, CP
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