Father Norris Clark, A Jesuit priest from Fordham traveled to India to visit a Buddhist Monastery. During his visit, the abbot invited him to a meeting with several of the monks who spoke English. The Abbot said, "Obviously our two religions are very different but similar in their roots, in the depths of their essence."
The Abbot then invited his four Buddhist priests and Father Clark to write down on a piece of paper the one word that is at the heart of all great religions, the first requirement for any religion. They did so. When they shared their papers, they all had written down the same word: "Gratitude."
The abbot said, we express gratitude for everything, for life, for death, for pleasures, for pain, for minds, for bodies, for everything.
Father Clark then posed the following: "But I have a question for you. If you do not believe in a God, to whom are you grateful?" The abbot replied, "I do not know." Father Clark responded, "We do."
Like all of us, the lepers in today’s Gospel look to Jesus for healing, whether it is healing of the brokenness in our lives, healing of our sins in confession or perhaps a physical healing. Out of the ten lepers, only one returns to give thanks and that man was a stranger, a Samaritan.
The other nine are a sorry lot when you consider who Jesus is. The Samaritan returns to discover the enormous blessings Jesus has to offer. It is so wonderful for the Samaritan to discover that Jesus Christ has left us his own body on the Cross, in the Church, in the Eucharist. Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church, whom we remember and celebrate today, reminds us that “The reception of Christ’s body and blood transforms us into that which we consume.”
Think about the magnitude of Christ’s gift to us in the Eucharist. The Samaritan is told his faith has saved him. His gratitude opens him up to receive the blessings of Christ, to become a ‘little Christ,’ to know and call God Father, to look upon every person he meets as Christ, truly present among us., to make all our relationships in our family, among friends and co-workers, even among strangers richer and more blessed and sacred.
How arrogant it would be of us to refuse these gifts, these treasures, these blessings showered upon us and our families. Saint Leo the Great, Pray for us.
- Father Willy's inspirational homily was recorded live this morning during Mass at the Father Peyton Center. Please view the video on our Facebook page.(You don't need a Facebook account to view.)
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