The homily served as a beautiful invitation for each student to contemplate how God calls them to meet their unique call to holiness, in their school rooms, their dining room table, or in their friend groups. Fr. Jaime left them with an inspiring challenge: What’s your road to Jericho?

Read the transcript of Fr. Jaime’s homily below:

“Today’s Gospel tells us the story of the Good Samaritan. Imagine the scene: a dusty road under the burning sun. A man lies on the ground, hurt and bleeding, his clothes torn. He’s been attacked by robbers and left there alone. A priest walks by. He sees him… but crosses to the other side.

Then another man—a Levite, someone from the Temple—comes along. He slows down for a second… and keeps walking. And then comes someone no one expected—a Samaritan. Now, you might be wondering, who is a Samaritan? In Jesus’ time, the Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get along at all. They lived close to each other, but there was a long history of anger and division between them.

Jews thought Samaritans were outsiders, people who didn’t worship God the ‘right’ way. Many Jews wouldn’t even speak to a Samaritan. So when Jesus says that the hero of the story is a Samaritan, everyone listening gasps. It’s like saying, ‘The person everyone looks down on, the one you’d never expect to do something great — that’s the one who truly loves.’

And that’s exactly what happens. The Samaritan sees the wounded man, and his heart fills with compassion. He kneels beside him, cleans his wounds, lifts him onto his donkey, and takes him to an inn where he can rest. He doesn’t ask, ‘Who is this person?’ or ‘Does he deserve my help?’ He just sees someone suffering — and helps.

And at the end, Jesus looks at everyone listening and says, ‘Go, and do likewise.’ That road to Jericho, isn’t just an old road in Israel. It can be the road you and I walk every day—the road to your classroom, down the hallway at school, through your group chat, across your kitchen at home. There are still people lying “by the road”: the classmate who feels left out, the friend who smiles but feels invisible, the sibling who drives you crazy but just wants your love.

And sometimes, like the priest or the Levite, we walk right by — not because we’re bad, but because we’re distracted, shy, or busy. But love doesn’t wait. Love stops.

Almost two thousand years after Jesus told that story, another man was walking through the streets of Madrid. His name was Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, a young Spanish priest at that time. And he saw a different kind of suffering—people who felt their daily lives didn’t matter to God. Students buried in homework, mothers exhausted from caring for their families, workers struggling to make ends meet.

And he realized something: the world is full of ‘roads to Jericho.’ Jesus is still there, waiting—hidden in the ordinary, in the tired, in the forgotten. So St. Josemaría began to teach a simple but powerful truth: ‘You can find God in your books, in your sports, in your friendships, in the smallest duties of every day.’

He called this message Opus Dei, which means ‘the Work of God.’ Because everything can be holy when it’s done with love. If you do your homework with love, it can become a prayer. If you help your mom with joy, you´re on the path to holiness. If you forgive someone who hurt you, that’s loving like the Samaritan.

He used to say: ‘There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations — and it’s up to you to discover it.’ That’s what saints do: they make the ordinary shine with love.

On October 6, 2002—on a day like today—thousands of people filled St. Peter’s Square in Rome as the Pope declared St. Josemaría a saint. He was called ‘the saint of ordinary life.’ Why? Because he showed that holiness doesn’t mean doing spectacular things. It means doing small things with great love—just like the Good Samaritan.

And now, we can ask ourselves: what’s your road to Jericho? Maybe it’s your school hallway. Maybe it’s your home. Maybe it’s that friendship that needs healing. That’s where Jesus waits for you—not far away, but right there in the middle of your day.

When you share your lunch with someone left out, when you send a kind message instead of gossip, when you study honestly, when you help your parents without being asked — you’re becoming the Good Samaritan. You’re walking St. Josemaría’s path.

Sometimes you might think, ‘But I’m just a normal girl. What difference can I make?’ But that’s exactly what God loves most—that you’re normal, and open to His grace. In your ordinary day, God whispers: ‘I need your smile to lift someone’s sadness. I need your hands to make the world gentler. I need your heart to bring My love to your school, your family, your world.’

And like the Samaritan, like St. Josemaría, you can say: ‘Yes, Lord. I’ll stop. I’ll love. I’ll help.’ At the end of the parable, Jesus says, ‘Go, and do likewise.’ So today, on the feast of the canonization of St. Josemaría, let’s ask him to help us see God in our ordinary life—to open our eyes to the people who need us, and to fill our hearts with the courage to stop, to love, and to serve.

Because holiness isn’t about being completely perfect. It’s about loving like Jesus—on the road you walk every day.”