One Minute Reflection – 10 November – Readings: Wisdom 6: 1-11; Psalm 82: 3-4, 6-7; Luke 17: 11-19
“Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” – Luke 17:17
REFLECTION – “After having offended our Benefactor by our indifference to His signs of goodwill, we have, nevertheless, not been forsaken by the Lord’s goodness nor cut off from His love but we have been rescued from death and restored to life by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the way in which we have been saved, is even more worthy of wonder. “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2,6-7).
He carried our weakness and bore our sufferings, He was put to death for our sake that we might be saved by His Wounds, He redeemed us from the curse, by becoming accursed for us (cf Is 53,4-5; Gal 3,13). He endured the most degrading of deaths, to lead us to life and glory. And it was not enough for Him to restore to life, those who lay in death. He clothed them again in the divine dignity and prepared for them, in everlasting rest, a happiness that exceeds all human imagining.
How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all He has given us? His goodness is such, that He asks nothing in return for His blessings – He is satisfied with being loved.” – St Basil (330-379) Monk, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Father and Doctor of the Church (Great monastic Rules, # 2)
PRAYER – You Lord, Holy Father, never forget Your solemn covenant and grant us new life each day. We though in our hearts of stone do forget and cease to thank and bless You. Make our hearts turn in gratitude, for all we are and have is by Your grace and we are as nothing without You. May our minds, hearts and souls sing with love and thanks to You, Lord our God. Grant us new hearts by the prayers of Your Saint Leo the Great and all the saints in heaven, who always lived with grateful hearts, praising You always. We ask this this through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 13 November – Wednesday of the Thirty Second week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 17:11–19 and the Memorial of All Benedictine and Cistercian Saints and Blessed Karl Lampert (1894-1944) Martyr
“Was no-one found to return and give praise to God, except this foreigner?” … Luke 17:18
REFLECTION – “How happy was that Samaritan leper who recognised that “he possessed nothing he had not received” (1Cor 4:7). “He guarded what had been entrusted to him” (2 Tm 1:12) and turned back to the Lord to thank Him. Blessed are they who, after each gift of grace, turn back to Him in whom is the fullness of all the graces, for if we show ourselves thankful in regard to Him for all we have received, then we make ready a place for grace within ourselves… in even greater abundance. In fact, our ingratitude is the only thing, that prevents us making progress, following our conversion…
Happy, then, are they who think of themselves as strangers and who give great thanks for even the least blessing, thinking that everything given to a stranger and foreigner is a wholly free gift. How unfortunate and wretched we are, on the other hand, if after first of all appearing timid, humble and pious we then forget, just how freely given, is what we have received…
I beg you then, brethren, let us remain ever more humbly under the mighty hand of God (1 Pt 5:6)… Let us continue in thanksgiving, with great devotion and He will grant us the grace, that alone can save our souls. Let us show our gratitude, not just in our words and on our lips but in deed and in truth.” … St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – You Lord, Holy Father, never forget Your solemn covenant and grant us new life each day. We, though in our hearts of stone do forget and cease to thank and bless You. Make our hearts turn in gratitude, for all we are and have is by Your grace and we are as nothing without You. May our minds, hearts and souls sing with love and thanks to You, Lord our God. Grant us new hearts by the prayers of Blessed Karl Lampert and all the saints in heaven, who always lived with grateful hearts, praising You always. We ask this this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Pope Francis celebrates Canonisation Mass of 5 New Saints and says “Let us ask to be like that, “kindly lights.”
HOLY MASS AND CANONISATION OF THE BLESSEDS:
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, GIUSEPPINA VANNINI,
MARIAM THRESIA CHIRAMEL MANKIDIYAN, DULCE LOPES PONTES, MARGUERITE BAYS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
St Peter’s Square
XXVIII Sunday of Ordinary Time
13 October 2019
“Your faith has saved you” (Lk 17:19). This is the climax of today’s Gospel, which reflects the journey of faith. There are three steps in this journey of faith. We see them in the actions of the lepers whom Jesus heals. They cry out, they walk and they give thanks.
First, they cry out. The lepers were in a dreadful situation, not only because of a disease that, widespread even today, needs to be battled with unremitting effort but also because of their exclusion from society. At the time of Jesus, lepers were considered unclean and, as such, had to be isolated and kept apart (cf. Lev 13:46). We see that when they approach Jesus, they “kept their distance” (Lk 17:12). Even though their condition kept them apart, the Gospel tells us that they “called out” (v. 13) and pleaded with Jesus. They did not let themselves be paralysed because they were shunned by society, they cried out to God, who excludes no-one. We see how distances are shortened, how loneliness is overcome – by not closing in on ourselves and our own problems, by not thinking about how others judge us but rather by crying out to the Lord, for the Lord hears the cry of those who find themselves alone.
Like those lepers, we too need healing, each one of us. We need to be healed of our lack of confidence in ourselves, in life, in the future we need to be healed of our fears and the vices that enslave us, of our introversion, our addictions and our attachment to games, money, television, mobile phones, to what other people think. The Lord sets our hearts free and heals them if only we ask Him, only if we say to Him : “Lord, I believe you can heal me. Dear Jesus, heal me from being caught up in myself. Free me from evil and fear”. The lepers are the first people, in this Gospel, who called to the name of Jesus. Later, a blind man and a crucified thief would do so, all of them needy people calling on the name of Jesus, which means: “God saves”. They call God by name, directly and spontaneously. To call someone by name is a sign of confidence and it pleases the Lord. That is how faith grows, through confident, trusting prayer. Prayer in which we bring to Jesus, who we really are, with open hearts, without attempting to mask our sufferings. Each day, let us invoke with confidence the name of Jesus, “God saves”. Let us repeat it: that is prayer, to say “Jesus“ is to pray. And prayer is essential! Indeed, prayer is the door of faith, prayer is medicine for the heart.
The second word, is to walk. It is the second stage. In today’s brief Gospel, there are several verbs of motion. It is quite striking is that the lepers are not healed as they stand before Jesus, it is only afterwards, as they were walking. The Gospel tells us that: “As they went, they were made clean” (v. 14). They were healed by going up to Jerusalem, that is, while walking uphill. On the journey of life, purification takes place along the way, a way that is often uphill since it leads to the heights. Faith calls for journey, a “going out” from ourselves, and it can work wonders if we abandon our comforting certainties, if we leave our safe harbours and our cosy nests. Faith increases by giving, and grows by taking risks. Faith advances when we make our way equipped with trust in God. Faith advances with humble and practical steps, like the steps of the lepers or those of Naaman who went down to bathe in the river Jordan (cf. 2 Kings 5:14-17). The same is true for us. We advance in faith by showing humble and practical love, exercising patience each day and praying constantly to Jesus as we keep pressing forward on our way.
There is a further interesting aspect to the journey of the lepers: they move together. The Gospel tells us that, “as they went, they were made clean” (v. 14). The verbs are in the plural. Faith means also walking together, never alone. Once healed, however, nine of them go off on their own way and only one turns back to offer thanks. Jesus then expresses His astonishment: “The others, where are they?” (v. 17). It is as if He asks the only one who returned, to account for the other nine. It is the task of us, who celebrate the Eucharist as an act of thanksgiving, to take care of those who have stopped walking, those who have lost their way. We are called to be guardians of our distant brothers and sisters, all of us! We are to intercede for them, we are responsible for them, to account for them, to keep them close to heart. Do you want to grow in faith? You, who are here today, do you want to grow in faith? Then take care of a distant brother, a faraway sister.
To cry out. To walk. And to give thanks. This is the final step. Only to the one who thanked Him did Jesus say: “Your faith has saved you” (v. 19). It made you both safe and sound. We see from this, that the ultimate goal is not health or wellness but the encounter with Jesus. Salvation is not drinking a glass of water to keep fit, it is going to the source, which is Jesus. He alone frees us from evil and heals our hearts. Only an encounter with Him can save, can make life full and beautiful. Whenever we meet Jesus, the word “thanks” comes immediately to our lips, because we have discovered the most important thing in life, which is not to receive a grace or resolve a problem but to embrace the Lord of life. And this is the most important thing in life – to embrace the Lord of life.
It is impressive to see how the man who was healed, a Samaritan, expresses his joy with his entire being – he praises God in a loud voice, he prostrates himself and he gives thanks (cf. vv. 15-16). The culmination of the journey of faith is to live a life of continual thanksgiving. Let us ask ourselves – do we, as people of faith, live each day as a burden, or as an act of praise? Are we closed in on ourselves, waiting to ask another blessing, or do we find our joy in giving thanks? When we express our gratitude, the Father’s heart is moved and He pours out the Holy Spirit upon us. To give thanks is not a question of good manners or etiquette, it is a question of faith. A grateful heart is one that remains young. To say “Thank you, Lord” when we wake up, throughout the day and before going to bed – that is the best way to keep our hearts young, because hearts can grow old and be spoilt. This also holds true for families and between spouses. Remember to say thank you. Those words are the simplest and most effective of all.
To cry out. To walk. To give thanks. Today we give thanks to the Lord for our new Saints. They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession. Three of them were religious women, they show us that the consecrated life is a journey of love at the existential peripheries of the world. Saint Marguerite Bays, on the other hand, was a seamstress, she speaks to us of the power of simple prayer, enduring patience and silent self-giving. That is how the Lord made the splendour of Easter radiate in her life, in her humbleness. Such is the holiness of daily life, which Saint John Henry Newman described in these words – “The Christian has a deep, silent, hidden peace, which the world sees not… The Christian is cheerful, easy, kind, gentle, courteous, candid, unassuming, has no pretence… with so little that is unusual or striking in his bearing, that he may easily be taken at first sight for an ordinary man”(Parochial and Plain Sermons, V, 5).
Let us ask to be like that, “kindly lights amid the encircling gloom.” Jesus, “stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest, so to shine as to be a light to others” (Meditations on Christian Doctrine, VII, 3). Amen … Vatican.va
One Minute Reflection – 13 October – Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 17:11–19 and the Memorial of Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar
And he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. …Luke 17:16
REFLECTION – “O Heart of Jesus all love, I offer You these humble prayers for myself and for all those, who unite themselves with me, in spirit to adore You.
O holiest Heart of Jesus most lovely, I intend to renew and to offer to You, these acts of adoration and these prayers, for myself, a wretched sinner and for all those, who are associated with me in Your adoration, through all moments which I breath, even to the end of my life. I recommend to You, O my Jesus, Holy Church, Your dear spouse and our true Mother, all just souls and all poor sinners, the afflicted, the dying and all mankind. Let not Your Blood be shed for them in vain. Finally, deign to apply it in relief of the souls in Purgatory and of these in particular….” … St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
PRAYER – Lord God, open our hearts to Your Grace, that we may be filled with Your light and overflow with gratitude for Your merciful love. May we love and adore and worship You in return. Although we are sinners, our hearts long to thank You in total trust and humble thankfulness. Grant that by the prayers of Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar, we may grow in holiness. Through Your only Son, our Saviour and Redeemer, with the Holy Spirit, God, forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 
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