Gospel Lectio Divina for Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 9, 2022
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
READ
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
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."
MEDITATE
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
Even when he walked the earth, Jesus respected the religious structure his Father had established. It makes sense that this tradition would continue today with the priests of the Catholic Church. We go to them to receive the sacraments, just as the lepers went to the priests to be cured.
The lepers are asking Jesus to do something for them. It is natural for Jesus to expect something in return. That something is not a typical exchange for services, but obedience to God the Father. In a sense, obedience to the Father is like currency in the economy of heaven. God wants to do everything for us, but he can’t do it for free. We see this same reasoning in his granting of indulgences, or graces given through novenas. It’s almost silly how simple his requirements are, considering the immense graces we receive in return: Pray a novena for nine days and your prayer will be answered, or pray at a cemetery in November to receive indulgences. The exchange is not about equal value. God wants us to be in an active relationship with him, which means both sides have to give something if only to acknowledge that we aren’t simply using him. But what we must give to receive his graces is so miniscule compared to what he gives in return. The lepers simply had to go to a priest to be healed. In fact, they were healed before they even got to the priests. There hardly could have been a simpler requirement, but he did require something. We may think the things God requires of us are insignificant, but the insignificance of the act is not what matters. What matters is our obedience. As Christ said a few weeks ago, “The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).
Where are the other nine?
Gratitude goes a long way. In fact, it goes so far that Jesus does not give salvation to the ungrateful lepers. Perhaps they showed their gratitude later on and were saved, but Jesus’ message is clear: Gratitude for God’s blessings are just as important as the blessings themselves.
I’m not much of a gardener, so forgive me if there is an obvious answer for my following observation. I water all of my plants the same amount. They each have the same amount of sunlight. As far as I can observe, all factors affecting their well-being are the same. And yet, some blossom and others wither. I almost want to say to the one shrub that survived in my yard, “Ten shrubs were watered. What happened to the other nine?” Christ’s parable of the seeds apparently applies here. In this Sunday’s story though, the differentiating factor is gratitude. It’s gratitude that opens up the path to salvation for the one leper.
"Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
Wait a minute. Didn’t the leper come to Jesus to be healed? Then why does Jesus say to him that he has been saved. OK, he was also healed, but why was this even a concern? Why was salvation even in the conversation? The lepers didn’t come to be saved. They came to be healed, but only one was saved because of his gratitude. There is so much to be said about this. First, while I’m sure the condition of the lepers was a concern to Jesus, his main concern was for their souls apparently. He hoped that by healing them, they would show gratitude which would lead them to salvation.
That leads to a second point. Was it not enough that the lepers came to Jesus, believing he could heal them? Why wasn’t that faith enough to save them? That is the implication: Even though they were healed, their souls weren’t saved because they were ungrateful. This must apply to our own lives as well. It’s not enough to simply believe that God can get me through hard times, and heal me in whatever affliction I may have. I should also be grateful for all the ways he has already healed me, for all the times he has carried me and pulled me through those hard times. Gratitude is like a balm for faith, because in remembering what God has done for us in the past and being grateful, we are given strength to believe in him through whatever hardships we have to endure in the present and the future.
Thirdly, this last line of this Sunday’s passage points to the fact that Jesus performs two miracles: He heals the ten lepers and saves the soul of the grateful one. The key point is that the more powerful miracle is the way Jesus can save souls, not the way he can heal bodies. Healing bodies is a power he possesses over the physical realm, but by saving souls he is proving he has dominion over the spiritual realm as well.
PRAY
Dear heavenly Father,
Even my gratitude is a gift from you, but it is a gift I need to accept. I can easily take credit for whatever wisdom or inspiration, or any other blessing, you give me. But if I’m being honest, I know that such things do not come from me. Teach me to be thankful all of the time for everything I receive in good times and in bad times, so you can grant me the gift that matters most: eternal life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
LISTEN
I’ve often wondered about the life of trees. They just stand there, receiving the nourishment the earth and sun give them. They do not worry about where their next paycheck will come from. They just lean into the sun, drink up the rain, and dig their roots into the soil. In a way, one could say they listen to God better than any person, because they are quiet, and yet they stand as testimonies to God’s nourishment. As God’s children, we have been blessed with even more. We show our gratitude by praising God. There is one God, and he is the font of all blessings. Let’s be grateful. As trees give back to the earth by nourishing it just as God nourishes them, let’s give back to God’s creation by praising him for all his blessings. In this way, those who listen for God will more frequently hear about his handiwork. If our prayers of gratitude outnumber our prayers of petition, maybe everyone will be able to better recognize God among us.
Kilby is a freelance writer from New Jersey and managing editor of Catholic World Report.
