Where Are The Other Nine?

October 14, 2007

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD. 2 Kings 5:17

Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." Luke 17:17-19

Piety

Psalm 98

Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous deeds, Whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.

The LORD has made his victory known; has revealed his triumph for the nations to see,

Has remembered faithful love toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.

Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the LORD.

Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell there.

Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy,

Before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/101407.shtml

How often do we take for granted a good day? How frequently do we say thanks to anyone for doing something nice for us? Good things happen and when they do not happen for us, we notice it. But we do not notice how infrequently we say thanks. We notice when someone else does not say the thanks. There is a double standard working in our world and we are part of the problem. People who do good things for others all too quickly burn out and move on to something else. Much of the energy for doing good comes from how we are thanked for what we have done. Because we are created to the image and likeness of God, we know that God likes to be thanked for the wonder of his creation just as much as we like to be thanked for what we have done. When Christ asks about the other nine, he is expressing his own humanness that has a divine meaning.

Our gratitude to God for our lives saves us. God, who loved us before we were born, loves us all the more when we express our gratitude to him. Paul puts up with chains, like a criminal for the sake of those who are chosen by God. If we are faithful to God for the sake of the people we serve, God will be faithful to us. If we die with Christ, we shall live with him. If we persevere with Christ by taking up the cup of salvation, we shall reign with him. Our greatest thanks are rendered by our sharing in the cup of salvation. We give our thanks through Christ. That is why our prayers end through the thanks we give in Christ. Even as Naaman went into the waters seven times to be cleaned of his leprosy, we partake of the seven sacraments to be healed and to give thanks to God for giving us life in his Son.

Action

Piety, study and action, all revolve around gratitude for what God has done for us. We are companion of the way. Christ has to be the truth of our lives. And the light of Christ shines out in our gratitude that is our faith shown in our actions. Our ultimate gratitude is shown in how we offer our lives for each other. There is no bypass of the cross of Christ if we are to be his disciples. Our love is shown in how we offer our lives up for each other. We are called by the example of Christ to love one another even as he has loved us in the giving of his life for us. We all have our own leprosy that needs healing. We show our gratitude to Christ by what we do for each other. Gratitude to Christ begins in the thanks we have for each other in how they share their lives with us. We are all a little bit better in the goodness we are grateful for in each other. Call a prophet a prophet and receive the reward of the prophet. Call a holy person such and receive the reward of the holy person. Empower each other to the greatness possible in Christ and be the Mystical Body of Christ in his goodness which we all share in our gratitude for one another.