Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 17:11-19)“Sickness as Opportunity”

Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 17:11-19)

“Sickness as Opportunity”

        Thanksgiving is where prayer should begin.  We might feel that this is the moral we need to draw from the story of the ten lepers.  Do we ever thank God enough?  But the Gospel story is more nuanced than that.  Jesus wants something other than a simple thanks.

        Maybe some of us have had a near death experience.  Perhaps we have been in a serious car accident.  I had one of those once.  The vehicle that I was riding in flipped over several times.  I walked away without a scratch.  I felt very blessed. 

        We also might have had a health scare.  Medical science might have saved us when we have had cancer, a heart attack, a stroke.  Again, when people have those type of experiences, they feel very fortunate to survive.  Perhaps we have heard someone say, “God must have allowed me to live for a reason.  I must have something to do that I haven’t done yet.”  Maybe a pledge is made, “I am going to live my life differently now.”  But days pass.  We might lose the initial sense of relief.  We get distracted by mundane tasks.  We might never act on the religious feelings we had when our life was extended.

        Many saints had such experiences.  We could think of Teresa of Avila whose feast we celebrate this month.   She was one of the great saints who lived at the time of the reformation.  At the age of twenty she entered a Carmelite convent in Avila in Spain.  As a young nun she was ill for several years.  At one point she was so sick she left her community for a while.  The treatments for her disease were almost as bad as the disease itself.  The doctors of the time thought that a good treatment was bloodletting.  St. Teresa suffered greatly.

        Teresa ended up paralyzed and bed ridden.  At one point she fell into a deep coma for four days.  The doctors who tendered her thought that she had died.  A funeral Mass was planned and celebrated.  Her grave was dug, but she rallied. She became stronger.  Teresa went on with life, but she changed.

        Her convent was very lax.  She wanted to live a more challenging life, so she led a reform of her order.  The once weak girl became a strong woman.  She started new convents, survived persecution by the church, had mystical experiences, wrote Theology.  Today she is considered a doctor of the church.  Teresa of Avila didn’t just thank God for her new life she had a conversion, a new beginning.

        When we contemplate the Gospel today, we would have to say that Jesus was looking for something more from the ten lepers that he cured than a thank you.  The Samaritan leper was different from the other nine in several ways.  The other nine lepers were like we all can be, we can quickly forget blessings.  The Samaritan leper we are told in another translation of this Gospel, “threw himself on his face at the feet of Jesus.”  When he leaves Jesus the Lord says to him, “Your faith has been your salvation.” 

        The other nine lepers didn’t seem to have any kind of spiritual healing to go along with their physical and emotional healing.  The Samaritan leper had a healing in the fullest sense of the word.  His healing was a moment of metanoia (conversion).  We can’t imagine him just walking away from Jesus.  We can surmise that he became a disciple of the Lord.  Jesus was pained not so much by a lack of gratitude, but more by a sense of sadness that the other nine lepers weren’t more reflective than they were.

        How perceptive are people in our world?  People are cured by medical science.  Many persons escape serious accidents, natural disaster, violence, but how many of these experiences alter people’s faith lives.  Doesn’t it seem like many grow mad at God when things go wrong in their lives?  But how many grow in faith when things go right.  As professed believers in Jesus Christ could we be thoughtful witnesses to how Jesus has touched our lives.  Can we say to others repeatedly in word and action, “My faith is my salvation.”

Reflection Questions:

Is thanksgiving a part of my personal prayer?  What could I thank God for today?

Have I ever thought I was going to die?  Did that experience change my outlook on life?

Dear Parishioners,

        Sunday October 16th we will be offering the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick at our 11 a.m. Sunday Mass.  Sometimes people are confused regarding this sacrament.  It is often referred to as the “last rites.”  Really, the last rites are the prayers for the dying which is a separate liturgical rite from the anointing of the sick. 

        The Anointing of the Sick is meant to be a sacrament of healing.  When someone has a serious illness which may or may not be life threatening, they should receive the anointing of the sick.  Those participating in the rite ask that the person who is ill be returned to health.

        Anointing with oil has been a healing remedy throughout history.  If we have soreness in our muscles how often we rub a healing balm on our bodies.  This quite often brings relief.  In earlier times it was not a dab of oil on the head and hands that was the sacramental sign, but it was a much more extensive anointing.

        The pandemic has curtailed celebrating the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick in large groups.  This is another sign that we are returning to normalcy.  Everyone is invited to come and pray for the sick.

        May Our Lady bring peace to our violent world.

        Fr Mark