As disciples of Jesus, how could we ever dare to judge or exclude a fellow leper, a fellow sinner?

The story of the ten lepers is a very familiar one, and everyone is reminded of the need for gratitude.  We are to live in gratitude.  All of life is a gift to us. May we live life with an attitude of gratitude for the ways that our lives are so richly blessed.

Gratitude is not a just social grace in learning to say thank you.  Gratitude is a habit of the heart.  Gratitude enriches us:  it opens us to experience the bounty of God and the generosity of others.  The more we become grateful people, the more we will find to be grateful for.  I know for myself as I am open to seeing the goodness and the beauty of others, I find myself more and more recognizing the many blessings of life.

The great mystic, Meister Eckhart, once said, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.  The prayer of gratitude is our best prayer.  Each time we gather to celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist, we gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.

Lepers in ancient times were unclean, as people to be shunned and kept far apart.  It was one of so many things for which society ostracized individuals.  When Jesus healed the lepers, he told them to go to the priest who could end their isolation and restore them to the community. 

For Jesus, the mission of the priest, indeed the mission of the whole Church is to reconcile and welcome one and all into the community of the disciples of Jesus.  In God’s eyes, we are all meant to be brothers and sisters with each other.  This is the great truth of our lives as the parishioners of the Church of the Holy Spirit.  In Christ Jesus, we are brothers and sisters to one another.

Did Jesus cast aside anyone as He traveled the roads or cities of His times?  How often did He point out that love of God was central, and that the temple and law were to facilitate and serve women and men, not to burden and harden their journey.  Anything separating us from each other or from God is not then in God’s plan.  Unnecessary burdens or regulations or laws are just that and should be abandoned.

Truth be told.  In some way or another are we not all Samaritans and lepers, outsiders and outcasts, yet graciously admitted to the covenant by the love of God that dares to violate boundaries in order to make us whole again.  As each one of us examines our conscience, we need to confess that our sinfulness separates us from God’s loving embrace, and yet it is always God’s desire that we are welcomed back into the covenant of His love.  How then could we ever dare to judge or exclude a fellow leper, a fellow sinner?

Is this Gospel message motivational for you to give to the CMA in support of all the diocesan ministries?  The purpose of your CMA gift is to enhance the capacity of the Church to be a Church of welcome, to be a Church of healing, and to be a Church that reconciles outsiders and outcasts.  The more we hold ourselves to be accountable to giving to the CMA, the more blessed our generosity becomes and the more we experience in the depths of our being the heart of God.

Today Jesus sees ten lepers from afar and shows extraordinary mercy.  Jesus looks upon us as well and shows extraordinary mercy.  We are called to be witnesses of the extraordinary mercy of Jesus in the lives of one and all.  This is our God-given mission as a parish community.

We see the Samaritan healed leper coming back to give thanks.  God’s healing love is a gift (a grace) that is given to the ten lepers in the Gospel account and God’s gift of His love is given to each one of us, but God’s love to us demands a response, a RSVP.  Our response to the love of God is that we are to live in gratitude; we are to live a life of stewardship in which we show our gratitude by sharing what we have with others.  As disciples we seek to live out our faith in the actions of our lives as a means of giving thanks. 

The profound message and warning that can be found in the healing of the ten lepers is the temptation of treating salvation as an entitlement given to us Catholics.  The missing ingredient for nine of the lepers is gratitude. 

All ten lepers believed Jesus could heal them.  Their mistake was in taking that healing for granted, thinking somehow that their faith made them deserving of healing as an entitlement.  Only one realized that his healing was an unmerited grace, the one who returned to give thanks. 

The grace we receive is a free gift from God who loves us.  It is the power with which we overcome obstacles, find healing, resist temptation and serve the needs of the kingdom.  May the graces we receive from our loving God lead us to a lifetime of thanksgiving. 

Have a Blessed Day and may we live lives of Thanksgiving.