“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”

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.” GospelLK 17:11-19

 

Challenge for today is to let God convince us

that the 9 lepers who went to see priests are us

Today gospel is not only about lepers who are cleansed

Those 10 guys because of their illness became outsiders, outcasters,

they live their lives on the margins of society, cultural and religious life.

They are outside

You don’t have to become leper to know how does it feel to be outsider

Just go to new place. New home. New school. New church.

How often we come and stay outside. We don’t belong..

There is another kind of being outside

It happen to us through sin. In how many ways you are trapped in your little caves of your sins like a leper

Sin that isolates me from God, from my family, spouse, children. Friends.

You are outside of relation ship, of love, understanding , trust out side of Gods kingdom so often…the rash of sin keep us putting back….aren’t you tired of being outside?

This is not how it suppose to be

Second, only one came back

It is not enough to present ourselves to the priest like nine lepers

They did what they were told to do

Many of us here do exactly that way

You come because you were told to come.

This is what good Catholics do every Sunday

Show yourself to the priest.

It’s my obligation. It’s the way God want’s me to worship him.

Yes but this is not enough..

 

….How many of us cannot wait for Sunday Eucharist?

How many of us here want to shout with loud voice

You are the God! You are my Savior! I praise Lord?

How many of cannot wait to go and share what you’ve experience here with others?.. not too many…

 

And this way we discovered that we are among the nine

who come to show themselves to the priest

 

Keep in mind this is not what Jesus expects from you

He wants you to fall at his feet with thankful heart, praising him with laud voice

 

One of the keys to today message is gratitude

The most important prayer in the world is basically 2 words THANK YOU

 

It’s not enough to come and give thanks on Sunday

 

The key to transformation is to find time every day

to come before the Lord and give him thanks And praise him

in whatever you do. Praise him in small things. Praise in big things.

In bad and in good.

Its like body building training. Happens every day.

 

It’s very moving experience for me every day when I stop by even just in my heart and spend time on saying thank you Lord and praising him

It’s like honey to my soul

 

Gratitude is what transform my heart, live, way of thinking.

Gratitude opens my eyes to the world around me

Makes me able to see God’s Kingdom and His Mighty deeds around me

We cannot do it on our own

We need to beg God. He wants us to be grateful. But it is his gift to.

He is the source of every good action and desire in us.

We need go to the source

 

If you want practice shouting for the lord,

Every Wednesday night before mass we do adoration at 5 pm

And also 30 minutes of it we spend singing to God. Praising him in laud voice.

Come and join us.