The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate how to live our social and political lives as people who act through the Holy Spirit to be loving and merciful to all people.
Healing mercy
The reading from the Letter to Titus urges the faithful in Crete to maintain good deeds.
* [3:1–8] The list of Christian duties continues from Ti 2:9–10, undergirded again as in Ti 2:11–13 by appeal to what God in Christ has done (Ti 2:4–7; cf. Ti 2:11–14). The spiritual renewal of the Cretans, signified in God’s merciful gift of baptism (Ti 3:4–7), should be reflected in their improved attitude toward civil authority and in their Christian relationship with all (Ti 3:1–3).1
Psalm 23 shares the work of the Divine Shepherd in our lives.
* [Psalm 23] God’s loving care for the psalmist is portrayed under the figures of a shepherd for the flock (Ps 23:1–4) and a host’s generosity toward a guest (Ps 23:5–6). The imagery of both sections is drawn from traditions of the exodus (Is 40:11; 49:10; Jer 31:10).2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus cleanses Ten Lepers and teaches gratitude.
* [17:11–19] This incident recounting the thankfulness of the cleansed Samaritan leper is narrated only in Luke’s gospel and provides an instance of Jesus holding up a non-Jew (Lk 17:18) as an example to his Jewish contemporaries (cf. Lk 10:33 where a similar purpose is achieved in the story of the good Samaritan). Moreover, it is the faith in Jesus manifested by the foreigner that has brought him salvation (Lk 17:19; cf. the similar relationship between faith and salvation in Lk 7:50; 8:48, 50).3
Suzanne Braddock comments on the raising of the voice in the Gospel. It is a loud voice giving glory to God, and the one cured no longer distanced himself but courageously and with great faith approached Jesus. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.
For me it takes courage to raise my voice to God, to ask for a felt closeness, a sure knowledge of his love for me. But when I do, it is in the going that he answers me. God’s love for me becomes felt in acts of kindness toward those he presents to me throughout the day. Isolated as we are during Covid-19, a phone call, a letter, a prayer for others all manifest God’s love for us. I can feel it. May we all throw ourselves at Jesus’ feet and thank him.4
Don Schwager quotes “Cleansing of the ten lepers,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"Why did [Jesus] not say, 'I will, be cleansed,' as he did in the case of another leper (Luke 5:13), instead of commanding them to show themselves to the priests? It was because the law gave directions to this effect to those who were delivered from leprosy (Leviticus 14:2). It commanded them to show themselves to the priests and to offer a sacrifice for their cleansing. He commanded them to go as being already healed so that they might bear witness to the priests, the rulers of the Jews and always envious of his glory. They testified that wonderfully and beyond their hope, they had been delivered from their misfortune by Christ's willing that they should be healed. He did not heal them first but sent them to the priests, because the priests knew the marks of leprosy and of its healing." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILIES 113-16)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 17:11-19 comments that once they realized they were healed, nine of them continued on. They were doing what Jesus said—getting their certificate of health and starting their lives as soon as possible. Our first steps need to be steps of obedience to do what Jesus tells us to do. But there was deeper movement in the one fellow who returned to Jesus.
Filled with gratitude for his healing, he decided to go back; he saw his healing as an invitation to draw closer to Jesus. Every time Jesus works in our lives, he is inviting us to come to him, to bow before him in love and gratitude. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can learn to hear that summons. Finally, Jesus gave the man a mission: he didn’t just say, “Your faith has saved you” but also “Stand up and go” (Luke 17:19). Once we have gone to Jesus with our needs and received his healing or mercy, he tells us to go out and share what we have received. Imagine yourself in this pattern of “going.” How do you need to go to Jesus? Where might he be sending you today? “Lord, let me journey with you. I believe you are present in the going.”6
Friar Jude Winkler identifies the tension between obedience to authority urged upon the Cretans during the reign of Nero as emperor. Gratitude is our response when God reaches out to us as anawim. Friar Jude suggests that we practice recalling our dairy of gratitude at the end of each day.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares the work of bell hooks (sic), a Black feminist scholar and activist, who suggests how truly living by a “love ethic” could bring about much needed societal change.
Commitment to a love ethic transforms our lives by offering us a different set of values to live by. In large and small ways, we make choices based on a belief that honesty, openness, and personal integrity need to be expressed in public and private decisions. . . . Living by a love ethic we learn to value loyalty and a commitment to sustained bonds over material advancement. While careers and making money remain important agendas, they never take precedence over valuing and nurturing human life and well-being. . . . Embracing a love ethic means that we utilize all the dimensions of love—“care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge”—in our everyday lives. We can successfully do this only by cultivating awareness. Being aware enables us to critically examine our actions to see what is needed so that we can give care, be responsible, show respect, and indicate a willingness to learn. . . .7
Franciscan Media comments on how Saint Martin of Tours worry about cooperation with evil reminds us that almost nothing is either all black or all white. Gratitude softens our view of the world and opens our being to inspiration of the Spirit to adopt an ethic of Love.
References
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