Beloved brothers and sisters,
Stepping out in Faith
We continue our faith journey with Jesus from where we stopped last week. In the gospel for last week (Lk 7:5-10), Jesus challenges us to have faith as tiny as a grain of mustard seed to move mountains. We understood faith as a trust in God's love for us and our total surrender to his will. In the Gospel for today, we see such faith in action. In the story of the ten lepers, we see a display of trust in Jesus as a divine person able to heal as they, the ten lepers, raise their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" (Lk 17:13 ). They look up to Jesus as God and place their trust in him for healing.
The lepers stepped out in faith after Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest who occupied the office of official verification of cleansing. Without seeing an instant healing, they did as they were told, believing the words of Jesus. The lepers were healed on their way, but only one of the ten returned to Jesus to give thanks. The grateful leper is an inspiration in the spiritual life. The act of faith displayed by these lepers is worthy of note and emulation. They decided to show themselves to the priest even before seeing the healing and did not see the healing until they went away from Jesus' presence. They trusted in Jesus' words of authority so much, acting on his instruction and believing they would be healed even before it happened.
The lepers' act of faith and the thanksgiving offered by the one who returned to Jesus is worthy of our emulation. We, too, should step out in faith. We should be bold and confident that Jesus would do what we ask for in saving faith and even offer him thanks before we see the answer to our prayers. He alone knows what we need. Jesus alone knows how and when to grant our intentions. We can trust him to choose as he wills, and his will is our peace. We should always give him thanks and praise in all circumstances (see 1 Thess. 5: 18).
Thank you, Jesus!
Fr. Bernard, OP
Stepping out in Faith
We continue our faith journey with Jesus from where we stopped last week. In the gospel for last week (Lk 7:5-10), Jesus challenges us to have faith as tiny as a grain of mustard seed to move mountains. We understood faith as a trust in God's love for us and our total surrender to his will. In the Gospel for today, we see such faith in action. In the story of the ten lepers, we see a display of trust in Jesus as a divine person able to heal as they, the ten lepers, raise their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" (Lk 17:13 ). They look up to Jesus as God and place their trust in him for healing.
The lepers stepped out in faith after Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest who occupied the office of official verification of cleansing. Without seeing an instant healing, they did as they were told, believing the words of Jesus. The lepers were healed on their way, but only one of the ten returned to Jesus to give thanks. The grateful leper is an inspiration in the spiritual life. The act of faith displayed by these lepers is worthy of note and emulation. They decided to show themselves to the priest even before seeing the healing and did not see the healing until they went away from Jesus' presence. They trusted in Jesus' words of authority so much, acting on his instruction and believing they would be healed even before it happened.
The lepers' act of faith and the thanksgiving offered by the one who returned to Jesus is worthy of our emulation. We, too, should step out in faith. We should be bold and confident that Jesus would do what we ask for in saving faith and even offer him thanks before we see the answer to our prayers. He alone knows what we need. Jesus alone knows how and when to grant our intentions. We can trust him to choose as he wills, and his will is our peace. We should always give him thanks and praise in all circumstances (see 1 Thess. 5: 18).
Thank you, Jesus!
Fr. Bernard, OP
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