Readings: Galatians 3:16-22; Luke 17:11-19
Good
evening:
The story of the ten lepers is one
that we’ve all heard before. The ten ask for mercy from Jesus, which they
receive, yet only one returns to thank him. It is certainly a story that tells
us a lot about human nature and the apparent world of ingratitude in which we
live.
And, of course, all those messages
are true and you’ll hear them every time this Gospel passage is read.
But St. Alphonsus Liguori had an
interesting twist on the story. In case you are unfamiliar with him, Alphonsus
Ligouri lived in Eighteenth Century Italy, was a writer, a lawyer, a bishop and
a scholastic philosopher. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
– the Redemptorists – and was proclaimed a doctor of the church in 1871 by Pope
Pius IX.
While most of us who hear this story
see a message about prayer and graduate, St. Alphonsis saw the Gospel story
about avoiding bad company and sin. In his view he sees the leprosy as
representing sin. Jesus, he notes, doesn’t cure the lepers immediately, but
sends them off to the priests; they are only cured in route. That is because
Jesus did not want to cure them at a place where there were other lepers and
they might be re-infected. Thus, the trip to the priests was a way to protect
them since leprosy was considered not only incurable but also contagious.
St. Alphonsis makes the analogy of
how sin which infects one person can quickly spread to others. Thus the
infection of sin spreads just as the infection of leprosy spreads. And as it grows,
more and more persons will be caught up and infected with sinful ways blocking
our relationship with God.
And, of course, we kind of already
knew that.
I remember a few years ago when I
was practicing juvenile law, I was appointed to be a judge in the county’s
“peer court” program. It was a very simple concept, first-time juvenile
offenders could plead guilty to their “crimes” and plead their case to a jury
of their peers, who would then decide the punishment.
I remember these tiny misdemeanants would
always open their stories with, “Me and my friends were …” The bad grammar was
bad enough, but what always caught my attention was the group think that went
into a plan to pulverize a neighbor’s mail box, it was never, “Oh I just
decided to take a baseball bat to Mrs. Wilson’s planter.”
It was always a result of that
spreading infection about which St. Alphonsus warned us.
He told his listeners that “one
scandalous companion is enough to corrupt all who treat him as a friend. … They
are the false prophets whom Jesus Christ warns us to avoid.” He quotes St.
Ambrose as asking: “how can bad companions give you the odor of chastity, when
they exhale the stench of impurity?”
“What greater madness can be
conceived than to believe in Hell and to live in sin?” he asks.
But beyond that there are still some
questions about this story, such as: what if Jesus had not cured some of the
lepers? And what about the message of giving thanks to God, where is it?
I think those questions are
pertinent since they involve real life. We know that not everyone who asks of
God will receive that which he asks. What does this tell us about what we pray
for?
I think it tells us this: While we
may have needs and wants, our purpose in invoking his assistance should be to
promote his will first, not ours. That is why we pray every day “thy will be
done.”
I think once we focus on the larger
picture, the one that God envisions; the more content we will be in our own
narrow circumstances.
And finally, the best way we can show
that gratitude is to live a Godly life, to avoid sin, and to make amends when
we do fall out of grace.
Unfortunately, too many of us cannot
reconcile God’s love for us with our own narrow interests. That failure leaves
a block in our relationship with God.
Shortly after World War II, the
great Christian apologist C.S. Lewis wrote a short allegorical novel, The Great Divorce. The story begins with
a bus ride where the travelers are residents of hell who visit the outskirts of
heaven where they are given a chance to stay.
As they wonder around the country
side they are met by friends and relatives who try to convince them to continue
the journey to the heavenly mountain.
One by one, however, the lost souls
refuse the invitations and take the bus back to hell. One is offended that
God’s sense of justice differs from his own and thus rejects his friend’s plea
to travel to the mountain.
Another, who spent her earthly life
attempting to control her loved ones, finds it offensive that God will not
allow her to continue to possess others. And there is the mother who refuses to
believe that God could love her son more than she; and there was even a bishop
who was more concerned with theological hair splitting than simple, childlike
faith.
For all who chose to return to hell
their choices were made because they had closed their hearts and their minds to
the enormous love that God has for every one of them. They missed the message
of the Gospels of an open heart and a resolution to amend their lives. They
refused to remove that block that stands between God and the sinner.
As Lewis points out about those lost
souls, “There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of
misery.
Sin is that block which breaks our
relationship with God. When sin is present we need to restore that
relationship.
And one way to do that is by
frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I’ve seen firsthand how this
sacrament can change a person’s life. I was once a chaplain at a drug and
alcohol treatment program for those in trouble with the law. They weren’t
always an easy bunch to work with, many were just resistant to a Gospel message
to which they had never been exposed, but there were a few who were accepting.
Many in that later category had been
baptized Catholic and asked me if, knowing their background and history, they
could ever come back to the Church. My response was always the same: Just go to
confession.
But I would add to that not to just
go on a Sunday morning and stand in line, let me make an appointment with a
priest where you will have time to tell your full story. I’d then pick them up
for their appointment and take them to the church.
One thing I always noticed. I never
took the same person back to the clinic that I had taken to confession. There
was always a relief and new spirit in them when they finished. The guys would
relax, the woman would sometime cry. But they all had the same experience: a
great burden had been lifted from their shoulders and they could finally call
God their friend again.
I could see the power of that
sacrament. It had the power to take what was crooked and make straight, what
was murky and make clear, and what was fear and make safe.
If you are looking for a way to truly
express your gratitude to God that is the way to do it. Repent, reach out to
heal the gulf between you and God and remove those blocks that have been a
barrier to the fulfillment of your Christian identity.
Then leave the bus behind and join
the faithfully departed who have gone before you and ascend the mountain.
August 22, 2021
St. Anthony’s Parish, Des Moines
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