Jesus heals 10 lepers but only one of the ten makes it a point to thank him for this beautiful gift of healing. Leprosy was a disease that banished one from the community to live in total isolation with other lepers. It’s like living in a constant state of perpetual quarantine!
Jesus freed them to reunite with their communities, healed externally, but also internally, by restoring their dignity.
Jesus wants to reach into the depths of your being and free you from that which darkens your heart. What spiritual “leprosy” do you suffer from? What about your character and moral compass disturbs you? I had a difficult relation with my dad that hounded me for years. Our relationship was livingly distant. We simply didn’t understand each other, since we had little in common.
As he was nearing the end of his life, we finally had the conversation we needed to have that openly aired the hurts. The inner healing was instant!!!!! All the years of avoidance, unable to let go, alienation ended in an instant. The Spirit of Jesus filled me at that moment, giving me the courage I so lacked for years. This spiritual and psychological leprosy made me feel separated from myself and others. Healing brought reconciliation and the acknowledgment of the truth, unpleasant though it was.
Jesus wants us... you... to be free from anything that causes inner pain and sadness. This freedom comes with a price, a huge one: we need to face the truth of the wounded relationship or the truth of an addiction or character flaw. It takes courage to face ugly truths which we keep suppressing to avoid confrontation and change.
The only leper who expressed gratitude to Christ was a foreigner, an outsider, a hated enemy. That Samaritan left Jesus, not only healed of his physical illness, but with his human dignity and worth completely restored. Jesus wants nothing less for you. But never forget gratitude, for gratitude is a way of living life that only brings joy.
Peace,
Fr. Frank