28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C Theme: THANK YOU!!!
1stReading 2nd Kings 5:14-17 “Dip in the river, you will be healed”.
2ndReading 2nd Timothy 2:8-13 “face up the trails”
Gospel Luke 17:11-19 “Healing”
We rarely THANK people FOR FAVORS DONE TO US.
It requires great effort on one’s part to do this act.
Why because we tend to be too preoccupied with our own little world.
I grew up in a small village.
As I grew up I used to meet all the people in our neighborhood.
We have besides Catholics, people of other religious belief.
When I was a young boy I never knew the difference between my belief and the other people’s.
I knew they went to a different church.
They prayed at home like us, had similar cultural activities like ours.
We called ourselves as Roman Catholics and they were known as schismatic.
I never went to ask why this difference.
One day I felt I must serve people as a priest.
There were not many from our parish joining the seminary.
I knew I had a great difficult task before me.
One day when I got the opportunity to meet a priest and express my wish I was directed to join the SVD congregation far away from home.
All opposed my choice.
I was the only son and there was no one who would continue the family.
My mom was deadly against this choice of mine.
My dad was open.
So eventually was permitted to go.
I went far away from home.
Our seminary was many days journey.
In 1954 traveling was not as easy as today.
As I had seen many religious beliefs in my home surrounding!!!!.
This helped me to put up with, many language people living and believing the same religious belief under the same roof.
This was a shock but since we all lived together I never asked why different language people were living together.
This got cleared only when I became a priest and learned the difference of belief in theological classes.
Today we have seen how the healing of a non believer takes place.
He comes to a believer to be healed of leprosy, he is directed to wash in the river .
This miracle takes place because of the faith of the man.
Then the Epistle of Paul to Timothy proves when Jesus has over come death by rising to new life.
Jesus has given us a hope.
This exceptional gift, gives us added hope that one day we will be entering into this life which will not be subjected to suffering and pain.
What a hope as Christians?
We are promised this as a gift to our unconditional belief.
We as believers have to be testimonies of this faith.
Does that ever happen?
Why are we like those nine non returning healed lepers?
Getting all the benefits of our risen savior but when it comes to testifying to this truth we shy away?
We are like those nine healed lepers who didn’t go back to Jesus wondering and thanking him.
But when in deed they began to experience the healing only one who was a Samaritan returned praising and thanking God for the gift of healing.
When they sought Jesus intervention in their illness they were loudly seeking his help.
From far they shouted out to be healed.
We too are preoccupied by the worries and cares of this world we hardly have time to return to the Lord who has done so much to us.
Yes we have lived our faith many years.
We proudly say I am a catholic. When it comes to testifying to new found treasure, like Andrew calling Peter and telling he has found the messiah we do not find courage.
Philip calling Nathanael, we least are bothered to announce our faith.
Nathanael saying can anything come out of Nazareth?
Jesus telling Nathanael a true Israelite there is no guile.
Will Jesus find some streak of truth in us?
Samaritan woman calling the other Samaritans announcing and telling them, she has found the messiah.
Have we the courage like the one to give, living witnesses to the gift of healing.
We do have so many defects.
So many worries, we are preoccupied with these forgetting the one gift of the wonderful treasure we have found.
We are brought up in Christian faith from our childhood.
Has our faith ever been tested and tried?
Only then will we get the courage to profess it.
Otherwise we will repeat the profession of faith like a parrot.
But when we are relieved of those limitations how many of us go back to Jesus and say thank you.
“You have healed me”,can we experience this in our being?????
Why do we go to Church. Why do we come together and profess our faith and say I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in the communion of Saints, I believe in the holy Spirit, only catholic church etc so boldly without even realizing what I am saying when I recite rosary at home I recite the creed what is it I celebrate?
When I say I believe in the creator of heaven and earth.
How do I use the heaven and earth I am entrusted with as a Catholic.
This is publicly testifying to the faith I have received.
We see the leper Naman taking two bags full of mud from Israel’s land to his own land because he feels it is holy.
How do we preserve the land around us?
Taking the nature and preserving.
We are fleeing to towns abandoning the villages.
No workers no farming.
We have become urbanized. So ungrateful we have become we do not have time. Our parents are in the old age homes.
Let us answer these few questions to be able to live as living testimonies of faith.
In union with the divine word,
Fr. Juze Vaz svd