Gratitude - the Attitude of joy of the Heart

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 09, 2022

Readings: 2 Kings 5:14–17; Psalm 98:1–4; 2 Timothy 2:8–13; Luke 17:11–19

(Healed Samaritan thanks, Jesus Luke 17:11–19)
To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/sfS8-kQ0hb8

A grateful heart is closer to God. Often it is difficult to be grateful and be thankful to others.  All the blessings and beautiful things that happen in our life because of the intervention of others. Unfortunately, they are taken for granted. Being ungrateful or not recognizing the goodness, mercy and compassion of others in our lives is a sign of how evil we are. The liturgical readings on this 28th Sunday of the Ordinary Time, remind us that God's love, compassion, mercy and healing move beyond the barriers of any religion, culture and race. God's graciousness extends beyond our imagination. We, often, put boundaries for God, so that he does not intervene in our lives. We like to be in control of our own destinies and avoid being in debt to anyone. The God that the scriptures speak today is a larger one, a bigger one!

1. In illness and suffering, people are not divided

The Gospel writer St. Luke gives us a fascinating story of ten Lepers who were healed by Jesus while he was entering a village near Samaria and Galilee. During the time of Jesus, as a social norm Lepers were kept outside the village or city in order to prevent the disease from spreading because they thought that it was contagious and transmittable. They even considered leprosy as a curse by God. That is how Jesus encounters these 10 lepers while entering a village. This incident also says to us that these lepers were considered socially dead, and were not part of the societal life or anything that has to do with normal life in society – religious, economic, cultural or political. They were regarded as outcasts and ostracized from every public place including towns and villages. 

Thus in a way Lepers were oppressed, alienated, and marginalized people. In Palestine, the Jewish community identified itself as superior to other community people like Samarians. In other words, they were considered "outsiders," Gentiles or pagans or aliens who worshipped Bals or the non-Hebrew God. However, to much of our surprise, leprosy made the lepers from both communities equal. There was no distinction between a Jew and a Samaritan. They lived together outside their respective villages and cities and supported each other. This was the case when Covid-19 hit our cities and villages two years ago. Neither the wealthy nor the poor, high caste or the low caste people made any distinction while getting treatment in the hospitals.  Therefore, when the Lepers saw Jesus passing by they stood at a distance and shouted at Jesus requesting him to heal them. Because people always avoided passing by these lepers.

2. The sense of gratitude does not necessarily come forth very easily

The answer of Jesus to those ten lepers is astonishing “go and show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 17:14). Priests were supposed to take care of these people and instruct people not to marginalize their own brothers and sisters. But this was not happening and priests were not doing their duty. In fact, the climax of the story is a Samaritan leper on the way to the temple gets healed and runs back to Jesus having realized that he has been healed by him. But all the other nine who were healed were Jews, the Israelites who do not return to Jesus to thank him. This immediacy of thankfulness of the Samaritan man catches the attention of Jesus. Every act of faith leads to healing, leads to cleansing but also every act of healing should follow an act of thanksgiving. Being healed of leprosy would most certainly be a life-changing experience that would allow for a more “normal” life rather than being an outcast of society. This would allow them to be healed completely even from the social restrictions, They would be no more forbidden people. They would be healed from their personal pains once and for all, but also would allow them to be part of the whole again which was important and necessary for every member of the community, not just those being healed.

Leprosy was considered a curse even in the time of the Old Testament. We see today in the books of Kings the healing of Naaman, a non-Jew, a foreigner who also was a leper by a Hebrew prophet Elisha. Even though we hear just a snippet of this miracle story if we go through the whole passage we realize that Naaman who is a Syrian, an affluent man and the commander of the army of the king of Aram was healed miraculously of his leprosy in the river Jordan. By this great act, Naaman turns to the God of Jews as the real God and builds an altar to Yahweh. Through his "Thank you" note, Naaman and the Samaritan man are not only showing their gratitude for being healed but are also showing how they can see the bigger than themselves picture of life. And for that Jesus responds with, “your faith has saved you” (Luke 17:19).

3. Faith heals you when you are thankful to God

Today’s liturgical readings hail the faith of non-Jews or people who did not belong to the chosen race. In front of his own people, Jesus praises the Samaritans, for example, the good Samaritan in Chapter 10: 33, the faith of Centurian in Chapter 7 and the raising of the Widow’s son from death, and so forth. In the preaching of the Reign of God and the healing ministry of Jesus, both Jews and non-Jews are included. In other words, it is a mirror to the prophetic deeds, which the Gospel of Luke speaks about in Chapter 4. We are being shown today how faith has been made the way to salvation.  We cannot chain up God's mercy and compassion. It is meant not just for the chosen ones but also for others. 

    The message is very clear: faith heals you. It is also important that we should give thanks to God for giving us life and light. I believe the weekends are the right days to spend some time thanking the Lord. It is by appreciating God’s blessings upon us, and God’s innumerable ways of protecting us from various dangers should help us to realize how thankful we should be to God. This must make us aware preciousness of our life. Through this act of faith, we certainly realize and appreciate our life and the life of others. This Samaritan echoes Naaman, who proclaimed after his healing, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel (2 Kings 5:15). For both of these men, outsiders to Israel, the experience of healing led directly to praise. As their bodies are made whole, they undergo a spiritual transformation.

Genuine gratitude is transformative. It builds relationships and communities. It strengthens the bonds. It opens us to the needs of others and moves us to compassion and care. As many scientific studies have shown it even helps keep us well!

Questions for reflections:

1. Putting myself in their position – what would I have done if I were one of the nine lepers?
2. Would I have gone back to Jesus? Would I have followed his orders to show myself to the priests – and then what?
3. Would I have just gone on my way and done neither? Would I have experienced some type of group pressure to not go back to Jesus and to stay within the safety net of the group for some other reason?
4. What are my intentions when I am longing for some healing? Am I only thinking about my own superficial and personal needs, or does this longing have greater depth?
5. If I get what I want, can I use that gift to transcend to something larger than myself and that which recognizes my place within the whole for the good of not only me, but the whole as well?

Prayer:

    Gracious and Ever Living God, thank You for revealing to the nations Your saving power. Through Your wondrous deeds, You have made known salvation to all of us. You have revealed justice to the nations. You have shown kindness and faithfulness towards each one of us.

    Bless me to remember you this day. When I see and hear a thousand miracles of your creation, let me see them anew, recalling that you have made them, and no other; that I may live in your presence among the common miracles I take for granted. Through Christ, I pray, Amen.

- Olvin Veigas, SJ

07 October 2022