Thank Him, Thank Him.

Gospel
Lk 17:11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"And when he saw them, he said,"Go show yourselves to the priests."As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed,returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.Jesus said in reply,"Ten were cleansed, were they not?Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;your faith has saved you."

Commentary:

The setting of this episode explains how a Samaritan could be in the company of Jews. There was no love lost between Jews and Samaritans (cf. John 4:9), but shared pain, in the case of these lepers, overcame racial antipathy. The Law of Moses laid down, to prevent the spread of the disease, that lepers should live away from other people and should let it be known that they were suffering from this disease (cf. Leviticus 13:45-46). This explains why they did not come right up to Jesus and His group, but instead begged His help by shouting from a distance.

Before curing them our Lord orders them to go to the priests to have their cure certified (cf. Leviticus 14:2ff), and to perform the rites laid down. The lepers' obedience is a sign of faith in Jesus' words. And, in fact, soon after setting out they are cleansed. However, only one of them, the Samaritan, who returns praising God and showing his gratitude for the miracle, is given a much greater gift than the cure of leprosy. Jesus says as much: "Your faith has made you well" (verse 19) and praises the man's gratefulness.

The Gospel records this event to teach us the value of gratefulness: "Get used to lifting your heart to God, in acts of thanksgiving, many times a day. Because He gives you this and that. Because you have been despised. Because you haven't what you need or because you have. "Because He made His Mother so beautiful, His Mother who is also your Mother. Because He created the sun and the moon and this animal and that plant. Because He made that man eloquent and you He left tongue-tied.... "Thank Him for everything, because everything is good" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 268).