HOMILY WEEK 32 03 – Yr II

Grateful, Relational Praise as Inheritors of Eternal Life

(Titus 3:1-7; Ps 23; Lk 17:11-19)

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Do you have an inheritance? How do you feel about either having one, or not having one?

The readings today invite us to be lives of grateful, relational praise as inheritors of eternal life.

Some interesting, significant elements emerge from the healing of the ten lepers in the gospel account for today. First, the lepers have faith in Jesus, respected the distance they ritually had to keep from him, and call out to him in their need for healing. Jesus doesn’t heal them instantaneously, but in a way tests their faith by commanding them to go and show themselves to the priests, a ritual requirement in Judaism to certify a healing. It is on the way they are healed as a response to their faith in Jesus.

But only the Samaritan, who was less taken up with religious requirements, finding himself healed, paid attention to his heart (full of joy and gratitude) rather than his head (the rule to be fulfilled), and did what was most appropriate and fitting for that momentous event in his life – went back to the person responsible for the healing and thanked him properly. He put relationship and gratitude above rules and observance, and alone heard the words of Jesus praising and affirming him in his faith. The other lepers were healed physically and were limited to that; the Samaritan actually got to talk to Jesus, probably receive a hug from him, and establish a personal relationship with him. He is a model for us – to be aware of our need for healing, to place our faith in Jesus, cry out to him for healing, and above all to be grateful to him for whatever healing might happen in our life.

St. Paul, in his letter to Titus, provides a wonderful, concise theological reflection on why we can and should be grateful to God as a basic attitude towards life. Paul first of all reminds his readers what they were like before they learned about Jesus from Paul. His description reminds me of what John, who comes for spiritual direction, shared with me about his toxic workplace challenging him every day. What he shared sounded much like this: his co-workers were foolish, disobedient, slaves to their passions of drinking, gambling and pleasure, malicious at times and jealous, even despicable and hating others – all right out of St. Paul! It made me feel sorry for so many in our society who are, as Henri Thoreau put it, “lead lives of quiet desperation” because of their lack of faith.

Then St. Paul reminds Titus of what happened to him and those in his charge. The mercy, goodness, love, kindness and grace of God appeared and was revealed to them in Jesus Christ, who has saved them. What is interesting is St. Paul finds a new way to articulate the two-fold mission of Jesus as the Messiah – “to redeem and sanctify”, to forgive and heal. Here are the words Paul uses: “through the water of rebirth” for forgiveness, and “renewal by the Holy Spirit” for healing. In a way that we did not earn at all, certainly not because of any righteousness on our part, Jesus has forgiven us all our sins, and healed us of our painful emotions, negative attitudes and even our addictions. We have every reason to be grateful.

Not only grateful, but transformed into a new creation, which Paul goes on to describe: First, we are to be subject to authorities. This reminds me of Richard Borgman, author of Search for the Beautiful Garden, who with his wife Danelle, became Catholics because as an evangelical preacher, he felt a deep need to be submitted to someone who was also submitted to a higher authority, so that they would not be lone-ranger evangelists wandering the world. When they saw how Pope JP II was the most submitted person in the world, servant of the servants of God, they felt they could be anchored under him and so became Catholic.

St. Paul goes on to say we are to be obedient, ready for good works, blessing and forgiving others, gentle and courteous. This will come not as an effort on our part, but as the fruit of being so loved, forgiven, healed and blessed by God – it will flow out of us. After all, we are inheritors of eternal life, the very life of the Trinity we are already beginning to experience and share.

The 12 Step program is a very effective way to actually live out this gospel message of grateful praise as inheritors of eternal life. Steps 1 – 3 are all about admitting our need and faith in God who can heal us. Steps 4 and 5, 8 and 9 are all about receiving forgiveness from God, ourselves, one other person and finally, all the persons we have ever hurt. Steps 6 and 7 are all about allowing God to heal us of our painful emotions and negative attitudes or defects of character. Steps 10 – 12 are all about experiencing God’s love on a daily basis.

Victor and Alie are good examples for us to emulate. Driven to drinking by the prejudice against Indigenous persons in Edmonton in the 60’s (“We reserve the right not to serve Indians” and “Dogs and Indians not allowed” are signs he saw in restaurants), he finally hit bottom, made a choice to live and went to Poundmaker Lodge, where he met and married his wife Alie. For her part, she was disowned by her father, a stubborn dry drunk who denied his Indigenous ancestry, moved to another province and never met his grand-children or got to know his son-in-law. They had to struggle through their combined dysfunctional backgrounds, but with the help of their faith and the 12 Step program, are happily married for 43 years, and participated in a 12 Step workshop I once gave.

The Eucharist means “giving thanks” and is our greatest prayer. Even as we celebrate it, we are being forgiven and healed through Word and Sacrament.

May our celebration empower us to go out, forgiven and healed, to live lives of grateful praise as inheritors of eternal life.