Returning with Thanks

Gospel Reflection for November 13, 2024

Christ Curing the Lepers

Today’s Gospel contains a very precious lesson, one of returning to God to give thanks for graces received. Our Lord encounters ten lepers and in reaction to their request to have pity on them, heals them. For the Jewish people, leprosy was more than simply a disease. It was essentially an excommunication for the leper. If a person was struck with this disease, they could no longer be a part of society. They had to live apart from the rest of the people. Most importantly, they could not go into the temple for communal worship. This was a total separation from their community, in a sense it was more spiritual than physical.

With this in mind, we can place the request of the ten to have pity in a place of desperation. These men were desperate for God to come and touch them. They are certainly biblical types for us. How many times do we cry out to God for Him to intervene in our suffering? He is close to us in those times just as He was to the ten.

The Gospel then records a significant interaction:

“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.” Luke 17:14-16

One of the ten that were healed realized that he was healed, and he returned. This act of returning is a necessary and yet often overlooked movement of the spiritual life. When God comes and touches our lives with His grace, we are meant to return to Him and offer thanks for the grace given. I think the fact that only one of the ten returned is indicative of the reality of the spiritual life today. How many times do we return to God and give thanks in our own lives? Are we like the one or are we like the other nine?

This Gospel gives us a great occasion to reflect on the graces given to us by God and return to Him to give thanks.