Cycle C - Year II: 9 October 2016: Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time (Liturgical color: Green) Gospel: Please read Luke 17:11-19 Teach us to be grateful, Lord! There is a wise saying, in Pilipino, "Ang utang na loob ay hindi binabayaran, kundi tinatanaw." (Roughly translated: A good deed is never paid back, but only appreciated with gratitude.) The Gospel narrative for this Sunday presents to us a case of gratitude, and the lack of it. St. Luke gives an account of the cure of ten lepers, of whom only one came back to thank our Lord, Jesus Christ. And the grateful one was a Samaritan, the outcast of society in his time. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, through Samaria and Galilee. He met ten lepers who asked Him to

cure them of their leprosy. This type of illness is characterized by open and smelly sores and deformities in one's nose, fingers, and toes. In biblical times, lepers were regarded the outcasts of society. By Moses Law, lepers had to live apart from the rest of the community (Nubmers 5:2-3), and were required to shout a warning to others when they were nearby (Leviticus 13:45-46). As the Gospel story goes, our Lord Jesus heals or "cleanses" the ten lepers, but only one of them came back to thank Him; and he was a Samaritan. The grateful Samaritan glorified God with a loud cry and he realized the greatness of the gift he has been given and the goodness of the One who gave it, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the light of such a great gift of healing for the ten lepers, it seems mystifying that only one of them came back to say "thank you" to Jesus. Well, the Gospel does not tell us why. But it should be enough that we realize there's something wrong with the lack of gratitude of the others. So Jesus said, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" (Luke 17:17-18) It is the same message from our Lord to us today, that we should always give thanks for our many material blessings, like family, friends, homes, food on our table, a good job, and many more. Gratefulness must also include the many kindness we receive from others by way of such little gestures as thank-you note or phone calls, or text are important. Because we must always acknowledge when we have been blessed with precious gifts at home or at work. Even so, we need to go a little deeper than being grateful for our material blessings. By faith we know that once we were dead in sin, but now we live in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gift of baptism, when we died and rose with Christ. Our gratitude, then, is what makes us see with clarity with the eyes of faith. In sum, God makes amazing miracles in our lives every single day, some are spectacular perhaps, and some are so small they can be easily missed and overlooked if we aren't paying attention. So let us pray that our eyes may be opened to God's great works in our daily lives. So that we do not just simply go about our day but rather stop whatever we are doing to give our Lord Jesus Christ all praise and glory for His many gifts and blessings. Participating in the Eucharist at Holy Mass is our way of "glorifying God in a loud voice" for His most wondrous gift of life. May the Lord be on our hearts and on our minds each moment of every day, as we pray, Teach us to be grateful always, Lord!" The Church also celebrates the Indigenous People's Sunday with the theme: "Indigenous People, Part of a Caring Filipino Family." Let us support with prayers their struggle on land, justice and life because they, too, are people of God. A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank You for a moment with God. Ad Jesum per Mariam!