28th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
2 Kings 5: 14-17; 2 Timothy 2: 8-13; Luke 17: 11-19
It seems that every year the Gospel reading a month or so before Thanksgiving is an account of the ten lepers that Jesus healed and one, the Samaritan, the only one that returned and thanked Jesus. Why does the Church give us the same gospel on Thanksgiving Day? For myself, I can never be reminded enough of my need to say ‘Thanks’ to God. If I said thank you every minute of every day from now till the day I die, I would still never have said ‘thank you’ enough for God’s gifts and love in my life. So I need to hear these gospels and need to pass on some reflections on them.
I love the story of the cure of Naaman, but we only hear three verses of the story, the whole version is the whole fifth chapter of 2 Kings, verses 1-27...I need to read the whole story over and over. Please read the whole story...it is filled with gratitude, but also filled with the power of God’s word to heal...and a surprising end when one tries to ‘take advantage’ of God’s goodness. I do not think that the ‘rest of the story’ of Naaman is ever read in the Sunday or daily readings. It’s better to read this, my own interpretation would limp. Another point I love about the story of Naaman is the role of the ‘little ones’, the unimportant people, insignificant people, who delivered the message of healing. It was the servants who convinced Naaman to listen to Elisha and stop being so huffy about washing in the Jordan instead of the beautiful rivers back home. Who am I to be the determinant of the person God ‘really sends’ with His message...do I feel it has to be this person, from this social strata or importance? Then I ‘program’ God and make Him the God that I want Him to be...how bold can I be? How bold the devil wants me to be. This creeps into my prayer when I ask God to ‘help this person’ or myself and ‘tell Him, now this is the way I want You to do this.’ Msgr. Chet Michael says, “Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude....If I’m not grateful pride sets in.” Another constant reminder I need in front of me every day; .Lord help me with this.
In the Gospel is the cure of leprosy. This was a disease that completely alienated the person from society. The Dictionary of the Bible describes it in this way: “The disease now called leprosy, the scourge of medieval Europe and still common in hot, humid climates, is always fatal unless it is treated. It is a bacterial disease, distinguished according to its prevailing symptom into nodular, anesthetic, and mixed. There is a long period of incubation, perhaps some years. In nodular leprosy the patient exhibits eruptions which develop into nodules which in turn become ulcerated. Anesthetic leprosy exhibits a degeneration of the nerves, loss of sensation and muscular movement, and progressive paralysis with loss of extremities. The mixed type exhibits both sets of symptoms.” Yet in the OT and NT leprosy may designate a wide variety of mild skin infections but all were isolated from the community.
But the disease can also be a reflection for me on alienation. What alienates me from God?...certainly my sins. I feel, more accurately, the devil wants me to feel, that I am unloved, that God can’t possibly love me the way that I am. I beat myself up so much that I cannot hear the call of God’s love: ‘Come, let me love you in your hurt...let Me bring My healing to you...let Me show you how important, special and valuable you are to Me in My plan of salvation.’ The devil never wants me to hear these gentle words of God. As Living the Word states, “Leprosy is a stand-in for the condition of sin that alienates us from God and each other. God’s greatest desire is that we know divine, saving grace, a desire often brought home to us by the surprising messengers God sends us—including the prophet from Nazareth who continues to surprise us after two thousand years. So be on the lookout for how God is working to draw you closer and deepen your faith.”
I needed to be reminded that gratitude isn’t just nice, but it’s a necessity. I need to be reminded that gratitude needs to be a part of every moment of every day. I need to be reminded that God has given His life to me for no other reason than love so that my only fitting response is to stand before God in humble gratitude. And I have to then love. Too often I let my worries and fears of life get in the way; too often I let the hurts and disappointments bring me away from gratitude. God’s gifts far outnumber the sum total of my struggles. God’s constant and consistent love given from so many sources and through so many different people have breathed so much life into me and have enabled me to be a bit of the person God needs me to be. And I am grateful...now when I reflect on it...but what about the times I just don’t say ‘thanks’?
So gratitude, gratitude, gratitude...Fr. Anthony Kadavil in Teaching and Preaching Resources helps me with these words, “I don’t mean to suggest that we should minimize the problems we face, or disregard them, or not work toward solutions to those which are in our control. No, I’m not saying that at all. But I believe that part of the ‘solution’ to our problems (if I can use that word) is to open ourselves up to real healing on the inside by realizing just how good our God has been to us and continues to be. When we are able to do that, when we are able to see life as something that doesn’t just have to be endured, when we can still have grateful hearts even though there may be much pain, sorrow, or disappointment in our lives, so much will change --- our pessimism will turn into hope, our fears will turn into trust, and our sorrow may begin to turn into joy --- a joy that comes not from having the externals in our lives work out as we would like, but which comes from us knowing on the inside that God loves us, understand us what we are going through, and continues to bless us each and every day. Now that’s something to be thankful for.” So I reflect on:
- Can I think of the ‘surprising’ messengers God has sent
to ‘get through’ to me? Have I ever thanked God for them? Do I
pray for them?
- The lepers ‘kept their distance’ from Jesus...is there
anything that keeps me away from Jesus? Don’t I need His love?
What am I afraid of?
- Do I give thanks to Jesus for what He did for me through His
death and resurrection?
- The lepers considered themselves outcasts; yet if they not
been lepers they might never have had an encounter with Jesus. Is
there a message in this for me?
“Something is missing when it does not involve a humble return to Jesus to give thanks. We come back to Jesus, not just to give thanks, but ready to receive our mission. Jesus’ healing is a gift in itself, but it may be given to us for others. We listen in prayer to hear His plans for us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment