“How many foreigners, including persons of other religions, give us an example of values that we sometimes forget or set aside,” the Pope said Oct. 9.

People who live among us but might be “scorned and sidelined because they are foreigners,” can in fact be the ones who “teach us how to walk on the path that the Lord wishes.”

People who live among us but might be “scorned and sidelined because they are foreigners,” can in fact be the ones who “teach us how to walk on the path that the Lord wishes.” Not only were the 10 lepers healed by Jesus in the day’s Gospel from Luke foreigners, the only one who gave thanks being a Samaritan, but Mary and Joseph were also strangers in a foreign land, Francis noted.Mary “knew what it was to live far from home. She too was long a foreigner in Egypt, far from her relatives and friends,” he said, “yet her faith was able to overcome the difficulties.”

“Let us cling to this simple faith of the Holy Mother of God; let us ask her that we may always come back to Jesus and express our thanks for the many benefits we have received from his mercy.” Pope Francis stressed that amid our own shortcomings, “we are given a model, indeed the model, to whom we can look: Mary, our Mother,” who gave thanks to God in her “Magnificat.”

It takes humility to be able to give thanks to God, he said, explaining that the heart of Mary “more than any other, is a humble heart, capable of accepting God’s gifts.”“In order to become man, God chose precisely her, a simple young woman of Nazareth, who did not dwell in the palaces of power and wealth, who did not do extraordinary things,” he said, and urged those present to ask themselves whether or not they are able to receive what God offers.

Francis assured his prayer and closeness to those affected, and voiced his confidence in the solidarity of the international community, Catholic institutions and of all people of good will, inviting them to unite “to my prayer for these brothers and sisters, so sorely tested.”