Addressing a BELONGINGNESS DEFICIENCY

24^th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME  (2011)

Reflections on  Sirach 27:30-28:7  /  Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 / Romans 14:7-9 /   Matthew 18:21-35

by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ

Today September 11, we remember that most sad and unfortunate day TEN YEARS AGO when at least four commercial planes carrying innocent civilians were hijacked and made to crash onto strategic areas around the United States, particularly unto the world-famous commercial hub the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the US Pentagon.  Yes ... that was ten years ago already today.  I don’t know where you were at that time.   

I remember that we were all gathered at the Jesuit Recreation Room in Manila having a meeting when someone alerted us to tune in to CNN.  True enough, television (not to mention Cable TV) nowadays allows us to view LIVE that which transpires miles away from us.  I thought of the entire scene as simply something from the movies.  Not a few video cameras, personal and commercial videos were able to capture the sights and sounds of the event at different angles and perspectives.

What was most interesting for me then ... aside from the telecast and quite surreal depiction of death and destruction (i.e., people running away from the scene covered with ash or occupants of the building falling or jumping off the tall structure, etc.) ... was a video (I couldn’t seem to find it on Youtube anymore) of children and adults (purportedly Muslims) who were apparently rejoicing and partying in the streets of major Muslim capitals in the middle east, as if celebrating victory over a long-time undefeated enemy. 

More than 3000 people reportedly perished in the September 11 attacks ... and even until now, I still fail to comprehend how much rejoicing and celebration can come amidst a tragedy that had caused a lot of pain and misery for many. 

More than understanding how such a superpower as the United States of America had become prone and vulnerable to terrorist attacks, the contrasting images of tragedy (on one hand) and rejoicing (on the other) allowed me to ponder deeply about the GREAT DIVIDE ... that GREAT DIVISION that continues to exist among people. 

We need not look far.  Even as we sit around, we know also that a GREAT DIVIDE (either that be a difference in social status, political perspective, etc.) tends to emphasize how DIFFERENT we are from one another. 

To STRESS that one is different from us or “US” being different from others can actually bring about what we may call a CRISIS OF BELONGING.   They do not belong with us or US, we do not belong with them nor share their sentiments.  Imagine once again, CNN depicting the horrors of death and destruction while simultaneously playing a video of Muslim children and adults rejoicing as if they’ve just won a crucial basketball game.  What a great DIVIDE, a stark contrast of perspectives indeed. 

Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us:  “For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.”  WE ALL BELONG TO GOD and this must predominate our consciousness each time we are tempted t feel that we have become different from others or others different from us.   This note from Saint Paul truly must instill in our minds that WE ... ALL OF US BELONG TO GOD ... and that whatever MAN-MADE distinctions we have created for ourselves ... in the EYES of GOD ... we are all the SAME.  Muslim, Christians or of whatever faith and temperament ... WE ALL BELONG TO GOD.

I think for the sake of a healthier mental health, we all may need to acknowledge our needs to BELONG.  Peculiar diseases traced among orphans (called HOSPITALISM or a kind of malnutrition or MARASMUS) which cause  recurring sicknesses ... point to what we may call BELONGINESS DEFICIENCY ... a feeling of being ALIENATED, a feeling of being TOTALLY DIFFERENT and SEPARATED from others.   Among the orphans, BELONGINESS DEFICIENCY results from being insufficiently fed, cuddled, touched and played with.   You can imagine when they grow up ... how these orphans in their adult life will long to be fed and cuddled and touched.   BELONGINESS DEFICIENCY.  There is such a thing! 

All the more ... given our current context of a world that continues to instill a GREAT DIVIDE among people ... must we further stress that WE ALL BELONG TO GOD!  Whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord.  For this is why Christ died and came back to life, that he might be Lord of ALL ... regardless of our varying circumstances in life.

WE ALL NEED TO WORK TO ASSURE THAT NO ONE IS ALIENATED FROM OTHERS ... THAT NO ONE HAS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE THAN OTHERS.  I think this is the point of our Scripture readings for the day ... us who feel a certain belongingess to and identification with God ... must all work to bridge distinctions and divisions among peoples.     

According to the Book of SIRACH, WRATH and ANGER  against fellows have no place in a world that values belonginess with God.  Wrath and anger ... contributes to division and as such Sirach asks us:  “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD?  Could anyone who refuse mercy for another, seek pardon for his own sins?”    Amidst the imperfection we see around us, is the challenge to ... nevertheless ... make people feel that they belong ... allow people to feel that they are not excluded or alienated.  BECAUSE in the first place, this is what God wishes us to feel ... that to Him we belong. 

An interesting line which I picked up from the Gospel is I think worth our attention.  The WICKED SERVANT begged his master:  'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'  Thus moved with compassion the master let him go and forgave him the loan.   But then we know how the story went.  After being pardoned for his debt, the wicked servant begins harassing his own servant.   Be patient with me and I will pay you back in full.  God can truly be patient with us.  But then can we truly truly pay him back IN FULL?  The story of the wicked servant is precisely a depiction of how we FAIL to PAY GOD BACK in full ... that we need to depend on the LOVE and GRACE of God ... BE PATIENT WITH ME, O Lord ... even if  I would have difficulty paying you back in full.

September 11 ... ten years ago will always stay in our consciousness as a symbol of DIVISION among peoples in the world.  A GREAT DIVIDE exists even among us.    We are asked to reflect on HOW ALL OF US BELONG TO GOD and must all work to BRIDGE THE GAP between peoples ... that ANGER and WRATH have no place among those who claim BELONGINESS to God.  And in acknowledging our own weakness, we cannot not but DEPEND ON GOD to continue being PATIENT with us for our FAILURES to PAY HIM BACK IN FULL.  May our  PSALM for today assure us of  a God who is completely patient with us :  The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.  THIS IS THE GOD TO WHOM WE ALL WISH TO BELONG.  AMEN.

FACES! FACES! FACES!

 

 

Davao City: March 2011

It was back to Davao City for me ... this time with seminarians from our SJVTS San Lorenzo sub-community during our year-end community outing.  First stop was the Philippine Eagle Nature's Park in Calinan, Davao City.  Everyone posed with these enlarged photos of the national eagle.  However, these were nothing compared to watching the "real thing,"  the huge 'carnivorous' birds enclosed inside equally huge cages.  KAHADLOK  knowing that the caretakers were feeding the birds real meat.  Hah, hah! There were also more to see ... the ostrich farm, the fierce tigers, the crocodiles and of course, the much enjoyed and appreciated Burmese phytons.

Haaaaahum!  What a treat ... especially after being behind the wheel for at least 7 hours!  Whew!  After a while, we arrived at the Ateneo de Davao Jesuit community where we stayed for the night before proceeding to Talikud Island the next day.  

ASH WEDNESDAY: ACCEPTABLE TIME ... A TIME OF FAVOR

Reflections on Joel 2:12-18/  2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 / Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

2 Corinthians: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.  Behold, now is a very acceptable time;  behold, now is the day of salvation.

ACCEPTABLE TIME also means A TIME OF FAVOR equated to “a time of redemption” and “a time of salvation.”  Now is such a time.  BEHOLD … NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.

Often, we are drawn to thinking of LENT or ASH WEDNESDAY as a time of GLOOM … a time seemingly spent flagellating ourselves, pondering  our many weaknesses as human persons … our fragility and weaknesses.  “You are dust and unto dust you must return.”  

How can this time be an “acceptable time” and a “time of favor”?  The word LENT in the Anglo-Saxon tradition is LENCTEN , which means the season of SPRING (lenctentid, is the Anglo-Saxon word for March, the month in which most of Lent usually falls).  Of course, in the Northern hemisphere, spring means the end of WINTER … no more ICE.  Snow and cold weather which cause the temporary death of flowers and trees and the hibernation of animals … now give way to SPRING … the blooming of plants, the springing of life anew.

DUST and ASH?  How can these be symbols of NEW LIFE for us?   More than reminding all of us that we will all DIE anyway … and that all these sufferings we endure everyday will all come to an end anyway … I think, DUST and ASH must bring us to remember WHO and WHAT we TRULY … TRULY are.   DO YOU STILL KNOW YOURSELF? 

The past months and years … we had been overly preoccupied with a lot of things.  We can get too DISTRACTED by things around us … or we can be so overly preoccupied with what we can acquire for ourselves or the accomplishments, the trophies, the friends and acquaintances that we foolishly think determine our self-worth … who I real am.   Lent reminds us:  TIGILAN NA NATIN ANG KALOKOHAN NA YAN.  If you remove all the things that you have predicated to who you are … will you still recognize yourself?  Who am I really?  DO YOU STILL KNOW YOURSELF?

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians says:  Behold, now is a very acceptable time;  behold, now is the day of salvation.  This is a TIME OF FAVOR.  Salvation comes with the knowledge of who and what we are in front of God.  DUST and ASH – the ADAMA – the earth and soil … with which our first parents were created.   LENT or LENCTEN – an acceptable time,  a time of salvation -- a time of growth and new life.

SALVATION comes because God wills it to happen.  God wishes everyone to be saved … but we all need to cooperate with such a saving activity. 

Can LENT remind us that what may seemingly be NEGATIVE … can as well be transformed into something positive and salvific?  Behind every seemingly negative experience (you may wish to look back and remember) is a CALL … God’s call.   How do we deal with such bad experiences … which are plenty and painful even as we examine our own family histories and our histories of coping with life.  Do we simply forget about them, brush them aside or even deny the existence of such a negative experience? 

We are all CALLED to squarely face our many weaknesses … and this can perhaps be our new context to the prophet Joel’s call … to FAST, WEEP and MOURN … to SPLIT OUR HEARTS and not our garments and return to the Lord, our God.  We are CALLED to trust in the mighty power of God to transform us … to create in us a clean heart, a new and steadfast Spirit … as the Psalms proclaim.  For indeed God wishes us all to be saved … only if we are able to LOOK INTENTLY at our failings … WEEP and MOURN … enter into a state of confusion and helplessness for our misgivings … and determine for ourselves that it is God and truly God whom we need to be saved.   

LENT is CUARESMA or 40 days … which can well speak also of the Lord’s 40 days in the desert .. the time he was tempted … the time he wholeheartedly pray for his vocation.  Can this period be a more intense period of prayer for us.  A diocese calls for real intense prayer, fasting and abstinence in cases when churches had been DESECRATED.   Let’s think of ourselves and our own community … how have our many weaknesses contributed to our collective failings as a community … the desecration of our own life in community or the desecration of our own vocations. The Gospel instructs us that when we pray, let us go to our inner room, close the door, and pray to our Father in secret.  We do not mean of course, a physical room … but the innermost room of our hearts … that which is untouched by our most worldly desires and sin … the place where we can truly be touched once again by the very powerful and healing presence of God. 

As we begin our observance of Lent … may this period be as well a TIME OF FAVOR for us, a TIME to WEEP and MOURN AWAY our many weaknesses trusting much in God’s power to create a clean heart in us … and lastly … can this time be a real period of intense prayer for our community that our almost worn out spirits be sanctified anew with the help of God.
 

DIGGING FOR GOLD

Feast of Timothy and Titus

by Frank Savadera, SJ  

Shortly before Christmas … I went to the St. Paul’s Bookstore to find a book that I can read and share with friends.  I came across this book entitled:  “The Art of Happy Living” by an Indian author named R.K. Jain.  The book seems a bit "new age and eastern" yet something that is inspiring enough to be shared with others.  What stuck to my mind was the author's description of what "relationships" CAN BE for all of us.  He said: "relating with people is like digging for gold."  Who wouldn’t wish to own gold?  Yamashita treasure!  Many treasure expeditions were launched in the past to find gold.  From the writings of Pigafetta, the historian who accompanied the first Spanish colonizers to our archipelago,  we've learned how our lands we apparently teeming with gold.  Nowadays,  an ounce of gold amounts to US1,500 per ounce (P60,000.00).  All the more … everyone wishes to … if they can help it … grab onto whatever gold they can find. 

But then as this Indian author was suggesting: our relationships with people is like DIGGING for gold.  Before one discovers a nugget … an ounce of Gold … one must firstly SIFT THROUGH tons and tons of DIRT.  Isn’t this the same with our relationships too?  How much DIRT do we need to DUST OFF and CART AWAY … TRUCKLOADS EVERYDAY …  for the LOVE of finding that OUNCE of gold in everyone?  Sometimes … it can be quite FRUSTRATING finding merely DIRT … the weaknesses of others … our weaknesses too.  We can easily give up on the quest.  

St. Paul – he who embarked on the most difficult mission of proclaiming the word of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles --  needed to DIG for GOLD … and he struck Gold in the persons of TIMOTHY and TITUS.  We know this from the way he fondly spoke to the two bishops in his letters to them:

 

To Timothy he says:  my dear child … I am grateful to God …  as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.  I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,  so that I may be filled with joy … I recall your sincere faith;  your grandmother Lois;  your mother Eunice."  St. Paul expressed his concern for Timothy:  “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim 5:23)

St. Paul also talks about Titus and addresses him as “My true child in a common faith.” He gave Titus a lot of instructions: "In all things show yourself an example of good works."  And expressed concern for the bishop.  In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says:  “When I went to Troas … I had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother TITUS.”   In Macedonia … OUR FLESH HAD NO REST … we were afflicted in many ways … but very much ENCOURAGED by the ARRIVAL of Titus.  

Given such descriptions of his relationships with Titus and Timothy … we can perhaps say that St. Paul struck Gold … as he also invites us to DIG for GOLD in the hearts of those we meet each day.

Our UNCLEANESS AND COMFORTABLE DISTANCE FROM GOD

Our UNCLEANESS AND COMFORTABLE 

DISTANCE FROM GOD

by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ

Story of the ten (10) lepers; everyone was healed but only one came back to thank the Lord;  What learnings can we pick up from this very rich Gospel story.  Let me propose three points for our reflection:

OUR UNCLEANNESS MAKES US STAND AT A DISTANCE FROM THE LORD. 

I think it was easiest for the lepers in our Gospel story to recognize their UNCLEANNESS.  The old societies made it easy for them to realize that they were different.  Simply, they were ostracized.  As a rule, in the olden times, lepers … those whom people of the ancient world thought of as UNCLEAN … stood … at least 6 meters away from people they meet.  This explains why the lepers were shouting at the top of their voices: “Master, have pity on us!  Imagine if there was a big crowd that gathered … following Jesus … these lepers would need to stand farther and farther away from where our Lord was.  And true as our Gospel implied, the lepers were standing quite at a distance from our Lord who was passing by. Surely, again … this explains why they needed to shout out at the top of their voices to get the Lord’s attention.

What’s fascinating also about the lepers in our story is that despite their being outcastes … they’ve managed to establish a multi-racial community of their own.  Misery loves company … hindi ba?  The lepers in our story had become a microcosm of the United Nations of sorts … apparently.  Given normal circumstances, Jews would not wish to stay with Samaritans.  But there they were … Jews and Samaritans … all ten (10) of them moving around as a pack or as one herd.  DISEASE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES!  Sometimes we joke around: If you’re poor and sick … you must have TB.  But if you;re rich … you may perhaps suffer simply from  an upper respiratory tract infection.  If you’re poor … you must have contracted scabies.  But if you’re rich … you have what we may call SKIN ALLERGY.  We do not need to fool ourselves.  DISEASE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES!  Whatever status you have in your life … there is such a thing as CANCER.  Rich or poor can contract DIABETES, HYPERTENSION, a FLU or a COMMON HEADACHE.  Disease knows no boundaries!   

More of a problem of society today … I think … is precisely how UNCLEANESS had become so SHARED by all … how UNCLEANESS had become so ORDINARY … and thus not simply TOLERATED but in some cases … even ALREADY ACCEPTED.  A case in point:  ABORTION … what the Church considers as INTRINSIC EVIL … a societal UNCLEANNESS … which in some countries and states had been accepted as a legitimate/ legal means to deal with unwanted pregnancies.   Slowly slowly SHARED LEPROSY … SHARED UNCLEANNESS is fast becoming a NORM more than an exception.  What are the varieties of UNCLEANNESS that we notice around us?  Sometimes we do not even know anymore!   Can we begin with ourselves?  What area of personal UNCLEANNESS will we need to face up and eventually deal with?  We may wish to think about our own compulsions, our addictions, bad habits that are hard to break or biased perspectives that are difficult to overcome.   Misery loves company.  Disease knows no boundaries.  How do we recognize our own personal UNCLEANNESS?  How do we see ourselves much like the community of lepers in the story … how do we stand so far away … at a far distance from God because of our own UNCLEANNESS.

   

GOD GIVES! HE GIVES MORE THAN WHAT WE EXPECT HIM TO GIVE! There is such a thing as the UNMERITED FAVOR FROM GOD

Did the lepers know who Jesus Christ really was … when they were standing quite a distance from Him?  Did they know that Jesus was God as we claim so NOW!  The lepers called Jesus … EPISTATE or MASTER … a secular term which can most generically mean a “leader” or “an official” or “a teacher.”  Here we stress the word ‘secular.’  Standing at a distance from Jesus, we can perhaps say that the lepers didn’t quite know the Lord as Messiah, Jesus as Lord,  the Son of Man or the miracle worker or He who had raised people from the dead.  If they knew, they could have used a far more different term than the very ordinary EPISTATE or Master.  It seems that they didn’t even ask him for healing!  Curing them of an incurable disease seems beyond the capacity of a mere EPISTATE … an ordinary teacher.  The lepers didn’t even bother to ask Jesus that they be healed.   Jesus was simply EPISTATE to them.

What they said simply in a LOUD VOICE was:  Master, have pity on us!   Leprosy then was an incurable disease.  Who can cure it?   Definitely not an ordinary teacher as they thought of Jesus!  They were asking not for healing but rather for whatever our Lord can give them … or whatever any passerby can give them … alms, food or whatever ... good enough only for their needs at that particular time.  “Master, have pity on us!” was simply a refrain to seek the attention of passersby.  Perhaps, they didn’t expect anything anymore other than a coin or two.  This was just a regular day for them.  They were all too familiar with begging.  They didn’t expect to be healed.  They were simply begging.  They only needed enough help to get them by the day. 

I was watching a blind beggar once in Cogon, Cagayan de Oro City  He could not see yet he knows that people were passing by.  And he would say repeatedly: Mangayo ra ako sa inyoang kaluoy!  Mangayo ra ako sa inyoang kaluoy!  Mangayo ra ako sa inyoang kaluoy!  Day in and day out … that blind man was there … begging … since begging perhaps is the only thing that he can manage to do given his state.  “Mangayo ra ako sa inyoang kaluoy” was his constant refrain.    He doesn’t ask for healing for his blindness!  He doesn’t care to know about those who are passing by.  He was simply asking for the usual coin or two that can help him go through the day.  Mangayo ra ako sa inyoang kaluoy!  And he would be happy enough to collect those few coins at the end of the day.  And this is how the miracle … I think was more meaningful.  The lepers didn’t expect to be healed.  But they were healed.  God gives!  And He gives more than what we expect Him to give.  What petty requests had we been asking our God about lately?  We know that they are simple requests because they also simply allow us to go on with our life each day.  How do we notice God giving us more … more than we expect to receive?   

A CALL TO GAUGE THE DEPTH OF YOUR FAITH!  WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU IN YOUR FAITH IN GOD? 

There are varying levels of faith and belief in God.  And I think this Gospel shows us exactly what that means.  Check this out:  Jesus tells them: "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.  Already … we can say … wow! MAGIC!  Jesus didn’t even touch them!  He just gave them an instruction.  They followed! And imagine this verse:  “As they went … or in the process of going to the house of the priests … slowly slowly … at every step they were discovering that each of them had been cleansed.  Their lesions dried up so suddenly. Can we imagine that?  As if they were looking at each other while walking and asking … Huy!  What has happened to you?  Is the sun extra bright today?  Are you using a new facial wash?  Why is your complexion seemingly better and brighter?  And imagine this still … by the time they reached the doorstep of the priests’ household … they had complete knowledge of how they were freed from their physical infirmities.  They had been healed.  

We must credit the lepers for believing in Jesus and for following his instructions.  To believe and to follow is an initial level of faith.  This kind of faith heals.  This kind of faith cleanses (KATHARIZO – to be healed of a disease).  Can our faith go deeper than merely believing and following? 

The next level of faith inspires us to praise and worship!  All ten lepers realized that they had been healed, but only one comes back “praising God in a loud voice.”  Remember how they all initially called out to Jesus in a loud voice?  Now … only but one of them came back to praise and worship Jesus in a loud voice.  This resonates with what happens to us usually I think.  We pray hard when we are in need or in distress.   

How do we simply go beyond believing and following?  How serious are we in expressing our acts of praise and worship?  How do we … much like the Samaritan leper … throw ourselves most humbly at the feet of Jesus to truly thank him for the gifts and blessings that we know … we didn’t even ask for nor deserve.  I remember my most intimate times with the Lord in prayer … when I would kneel and as if my entire body was praying … when I felt my entire self as fully dependent on Him.  Did you have anything like that?  What a good feeling ‘di ba?  A deeper form / level of believing if you ask me.   

Lastly, if the first level of faith … that of believing and following elicits an initial kind of faith that cleanses,  a deeper kind of faith … associated with gratitude and thanksgiving results to a deeper kind of healing.  We hear Jesus telling the leper from Samaria:  “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  “Getting well” means more than being cured from affliction.  “Made you well” is translated SOZO … or MADE ONE WHOLE … a word related to SOTERIA or “being saved.”  A deeper kind of faith is more than that which heals us.  A deeper kind of faith is that which assures us that we have been saved.  (DO YOU LOOK SAVED AT ALL?)  

Friends, the ten lepers were healed.  Only one of them … owing to his deeper faith in the Lord … had been saved.  WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU IN YOUR FAITH IN GOD?  Do you simply stay in the level of believing and following?  Or has your prayer deepened enough to express sincere praise and worship … real gratitude for gifts undeservedly received? Is your faith deep enough to make you a WHOLE, integrated and SAVED PERSON?   

As we continue with our day and our week, certain challenges had been posed for us by the Gospel.  Can we reflect on the areas of UNCLEANNESS in our lives that make us stand at a distance from the Lord.  In spite this, can we recognize how God continues to give and how He gives more that we expect Him to give.   And lastly, can we gauge the depth of our faith moving from simply believing and following to a deeper sense of gratitude and worship that will eventually mean our own salvation. 

Gauging the DEPTHS of of our FAITH

by Frank Savadera, SJ

In the story of the ten lepers, everyone was healed but only one came back to thank the Lord;  What learnings can we pick up from this very rich Gospel story?  

OUR UNCLEANNESS MAKES US STAND AT A DISTANCE FROM THE LORD. 

I think it was easiest for the lepers in our Gospel story to recognize their UNCLEANNESS.  Old societies made it easy for them to realize that they were different.  Simply, they were ostracized.  As a rule, in the olden times, lepers … those whom people of the ancient world thought of as UNCLEAN … stood … at least a few meters away from people they meet.  This explains why the lepers were shouting at the top of their voices: “Master, have pity on us!  Imagine if there was a big crowd that gathered, these lepers would need to stand farther and farther away from where our Lord was. And true as our story implied, the lepers were standing quite at a distance from our Lord who was passing by.  

What’s fascinating also about the lepers in our story is that despite their being outcasts … they’ve managed to establish a multi-racial community of their own.  Misery loves company!  Given normal circumstances, Jews would not wish to stay with Samaritans.  But there they were … Jews and Samaritans … all ten of them moving around as a pack or as one herd.  DISEASE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES!  Whatever status you have in your life … there is such a thing as CANCER.  Rich or poor can contract DIABETES, HYPERTENSION, a FLU or a COMMON HEADACHE.  Disease knows no boundaries! 

Our bigger problem nowadays, I think is precisely how UNCLEANESS had become so comfortably SHARED by all. UNCLEANESS had become so ORDINARY … and thus not simply TOLERATED but in some cases even ALREADY ACCEPTED.   A kind of a SHARED LEPROSY or SHARED UNCLEANNESS is fast becoming a NORM.  What are the varieties of UNCLEANNESS that we notice around us?  Sometimes we do not even know anymore!   Can we begin with ourselves?  What area of personal UNCLEANNESS will we need to face up and eventually deal with?  We may wish to think about our own compulsions, our addictions, bad habits that are hard to break or biased perspectives that are difficult to overcome.   Misery loves company.  Disease knows no boundaries.  How do we recognize our own personal UNCLEANNESS?  How do we see ourselves much like the community of lepers in the story?  How do we stand so far away … at a far distance from God because of our own UNCLEANNESS?    

GOD GIVES! HE GIVES MORE THAN WHAT WE EXPECT HIM TO GIVE! There is such a thing as the UNMERITED FAVOR FROM GOD

Did the lepers know who Jesus Christ really was … when they were standing quite at a distance from Him?  Did they know that Jesus was God as we know so NOW!  The lepers called Jesus … EPISTATE or MASTER … a secular term which can most generically mean a “leader” or “an official” or “a teacher.”  Here we stress the word ‘secular.’  Standing at a distance from Jesus, we can perhaps say that the lepers didn’t quite know the Lord as Messiah, Jesus as Lord,  the Son of Man or the miracle worker or He who had raised people from the dead.  If they knew, they could have used a far more different term than the very ordinary EPISTATE or Master.  It seems that they didn’t even ask him for healing!  Curing them of an incurable disease seems beyond the capacity of a mere EPISTATE … an ordinary teacher.  The lepers didn’t even bother to ask Jesus that they be healed.   Jesus was simply EPISTATE to them.

What they said simply in a LOUD VOICE was:  Master, have pity on us!   Leprosy then was an incurable disease.  Who can cure it?   Definitely not an ordinary teacher as how they thought of Jesus!  They were asking not for healing but rather for whatever our Lord can give them … or whatever any passerby can give them … alms, food or whatever ... good enough only for their needs at that particular time.  “Master, have pity on us!” was simply a refrain to seek the attention of passersby.  They didn’t expect anything anymore other than a coin or two.  This was just a regular day for them.  They were all too familiar with begging.  They didn’t expect to be healed.  They were simply begging.  They only needed enough help to get them by the day. 

He doesn’t ask for healing for his blindness!  He doesn’t care to know about those who are passing by.  He was simply asking for the usual coin or two that can help him go through the day. Understandably, he would be happy enough to collect a few coins at the end of the day.  And this is how I think, the miracle came to be more meaningful.  The lepers didn’t expect to be healed.  But they were healed.  God gives!  And He gives more than what we expect Him to give.  What petty requests had we been asking our God about lately?  We know that they are simple requests because they also simply allow us to go on with our life each day.  How do we notice God giving us more … more than we expect to receive?

   

A CALL TO GAUGE THE DEPTH OF YOUR FAITH!  WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU IN YOUR FAITH IN GOD? 

There are varying levels of faith and belief in God.  And I think this Gospel shows us exactly what that means.  Check this out:  Jesus tells them: "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.  Already … we can say … wow! MAGIC!  Jesus didn’t even touch them!  He just gave them an instruction.  They followed! And imagine this verse:  “As they went … or in the process of going to the house of the priests … slowly slowly … at every step they were discovering that each of them had been cleansed.  Their lesions dried up so suddenly. Can we imagine that?  As if they were looking at each other while walking and asking … Huy!  What has happened to you?  Is the sun extra bright today? Why is your complexion seemingly better and brighter?  And imagine this still … by the time they reached the doorstep of the priests’ household … they had complete knowledge of how they were freed from their physical infirmities.  They had been healed.  

We must credit the lepers for believing in Jesus and for following his instructions.  To believe and to follow is an initial level of faith.  This kind of faith heals.  This kind of faith cleanses. Can our faith go deeper than merely believing and following? 

The next level of faith inspires us to praise and worship!  All ten lepers realized that they had been healed, but only one comes back “praising God in a loud voice.”  Remember how they all initially called out to Jesus in a loud voice?  Now … only but one of them came back to praise and worship Jesus in a loud voice.  This resonates with what happens to us usually I think.  We pray hard when we are in need or in distress.  

How do we simply go beyond believing and following?  How serious are we in expressing our acts of praise and worship?  How do we … much like the Samaritan leper … throw ourselves most humbly at the feet of Jesus to truly thank him for the gifts and blessings that we know … we didn’t even ask for nor deserve.  I remember my most intimate times with the Lord in prayer … when I would kneel and as if my entire body was praying … when I felt my entire self as fully dependent on Him.  Did you have anything like that?  What a good feeling ‘di ba?  A deeper form / level of believing if you ask me.  

Lastly, if the first level of faith … that of believing and following elicits an initial kind of faith that cleanses,  a deeper kind of faith … associated with gratitude and thanksgiving results to a deeper kind of healing.  We hear Jesus telling the leper from Samaria:  “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  “Getting well” means more than being cured from affliction.  “Made you well” is translated SOZO … or MADE ONE WHOLE … a word related to SOTERIA or “being saved.”  A deeper kind of faith is more than that which heals us.  A deeper kind of faith is that which assures us that we have been saved.  

  

Friends, the ten lepers were healed.  Only one of them … owing to his deeper faith in the Lord … had been saved.  WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU IN YOUR FAITH IN GOD?  Do you simply stay in the level of believing and following?  Or has your prayer deepened enough to express sincere praise and worship … real gratitude for gifts undeservedly received? Is your faith deep enough to make you a WHOLE, integrated and SAVED PERSON?   

Indeed, certain challenges had been posed for us by today’s Gospel.  Can we reflect on the areas of UNCLEANNESS in our lives that make us stand at a distance from the Lord.  Despite this, can we recognize how God continues to give and how He gives more that we expect Him to give.   And lastly, can we gauge the depth of our faith moving from simply believing and following to a deeper sense of gratitude and worship that will eventually mean our own salvation.