November 12, 2014
Wednesday,
32nd Week
in Ordinary Time
ST. JOSAPHAT
1st Reading: Tit 3:1-7
Gospel: Lk 17:11-19
On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village, ten lepers came to meet him. Keeping their distance, they called to him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Then Jesus said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Now, as they went their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw he was cleansed, turned back praising God in a loud voice, and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus said, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God but this alien?” And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart”, wrote Jean Baptiste Massieu in the “Letter to Abbe Sicard”. Memory is generally associated with intellection while the heart with feelings and sensation. In saying that memory is the function of the heart, Abbe Sicard comes close to the Old Anglo Saxon concept of thinking (an act of the intellect) as the other side of thanking (an act normally ascribed to the heart).
To thank is to think because one cannot thank if he does not reflect on the good things the donor has done to him. Under this relationship between think and thank, the deeper one’s reflection about the good received, the more intense the gratitude is.
Today’s Gospel reading best illustrates this concept. The lone Samaritan in the group of ten lepers Jesus healed reflected upon his status and the privilege he had of being healed by a Jew (Jesus) even though he was not a Jew. Jews frowned upon the Samaritans as outside the embrace of God’s graciousness for being unclean. Under this mentality, the lone Samaritan in the group of ten lepers in today’s Gospel reading was twice unclean. Reflecting on his social status, he felt so grateful and returned to thank Jesus.
Not all who think end up thanking. Proud people think a lot but they thank very little. They are so self-centered that they think others are duty bound to do good to them. The nine other lepers probably thought they deserved the healing because as Jews they belonged to the chosen people of God. The Samaritan leper, on the other hand, was aware of his unworthiness and so felt so much gratitude. “Gratitude”, wrote Jean Baptiste Massieu, “is the memory of the heart”. This memory is sharpest when the heart is humble. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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