Today's gospel sees Jesus in border territory: he is in that land between Galilee and Samaria. Jews and Samaritans lived closely together in a geographical area, yet philosophically, socially, and religiously, the two groups could not be further from each other. However, as is so often the case, disaster, pain, and disease does not respect religious or political borders. The dreaded and feared lepers that Luke presents today are an amalgam of religious and political misfits, drawn together in their misery.

On seeing Jesus, together they plea for healing: 'take pity on us!' In Hebrew 'pity' is not just wanting to send a cheque to a charity as you watch tragedy unfold in a TV advertisement designed to pull at the heart strings. For Jesus, his 'pity' was not a fleeting emotion or just feeling sorry for the lepers from a position of presumed entitlement. Christian pity came from the very depth of his being. 'Pity' was a deep empathy that reaches out beyond our own boundaries. The narcissist can never have true 'pity' despite attending their prayer meetings and sitting in the best place in church—the world will always revolve around them! The gift of 'pity' is something deeply needed in our world today: we must reach out beyond our own problems, that are real and do hurt, so that the global community can be transformed. In our own issues, we come to an appreciation of the worries of others. It would be wonderful if people could say of your family, community, school, or parish that 'here is a place of true pity!'

Given all we have experienced over these past few years, I have come to really appreciate the 'social distancing' involved in this particular miracle. As we reflect on the healing ministry of Jesus, we see how he is very involved. He reaches out to touch the sick and speaks privately with those in real need. The words of healing are backed up by a human contact that is real. However, the circumstances of these ten lepers means that Jesus has to adapt in a way that respects the issues and problems of a particular situation. The horror of Covid-19 forced the global community to adapt in all areas of life from education, socialisation, and Church. We had to realise that, like Jesus, we had to be creative and imaginative, especially in the area of worship. It is this creativity that we need to hold on to, as we move forward. We might not like to think about it, but variants of the Covid virus are likely to be with us for some time yet. As a Church we were formed in the lockdown of the Upper Room. Down through history, the healing ministry of Jesus has been adapted to face famine, wars, tsunamis, and epidemics. We have a great heritage that we need to draw on, as we realise that we have not always done things in one particular way—we are a universal Church, not a 'one size fits all' grouping.

In this new act of healing, the ten are able to move back to the normality of family life, and worship in their own tradition. Of this group of ten newly healed, only one returns to say, 'thank you!' His heart is full of gratitude as Jesus gives him a second chance: he is now able to re-join society. As the French proverb has it, 'gratitude is the heart's memory.' This broken man comes back to Jesus with a heart full of gratitude and thanks. It is noted that it is the 'foreigner' is the only one to come back to say thanks. We are not told why the other nine did not come back: where they so caught up in the glory of the moment, that they forgot? Did they feel entitled? Did they feel that Jesus, in some sense, owed them this healing? It is interesting to speculate, but we need to concentrate on the reality of the gratitude shown by this foreigner.

Today we are given an important reminder of the need to give thanks—thanksgiving lives are the heart of our celebration of Eucharist. What are you grateful for? Who do you want to give thanks for today? It is in this act of thanksgiving that we live our faith. Perhaps today is that needed call to reach out to those who have transformed your life. You can make somebody's day today, simply by writing that note of thanks. I pray that we never lose that capacity to show gratitude. As Pope Francis, wisely, reminds us:

It is a contagious gratitude that helps every one of us to be grateful toward those who take care of our needs. Gratitude is both a sign of good manners and a key characteristic of a Christian. It is a simple but genuine sign of the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of gratuitous and grateful love.

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash