Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!

Wis 6,1-11; Ps 81; Lk 17,11-19

13 NOVEMBER

The ten lepers are a symbol of those who approach the Lord because they are in need of some grace. If they were not in need, they would never approach him. They are in need and they resort to him. Merciful, piteous and full of compassion, Jesus grants grace. He donates what you ask. However, he asks that the ritual laws be observed. Once the miracle has been given, nine go their own way. One returns to thank his benefactor. But is it enough to thank to be in the faith that saves? The faith that saves is when we pass from the request for the body to the request for the soul. However, for this it is no longer enough to observe the ritual rules, we must enter into full obedience to the Word of the Lord. We must move from the miracle to the Gospel. The miracle is not the end. It is the means that must bring us into the Gospel. We can define it as a cart. You climb on the cart not to turn yourselves around, but to reach a precise destination. The goal of the miracle chariot is landing in the Gospel, in the Word of Jesus and in his Commandment. True salvation is in the Word. In the Gospels we rarely witness this landing in the Word. But it happens.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe.  (Now) this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea (Jn 4,46-54).

Watching that from the grace obtained one passes into the Gospel is the obligation of every minister of the Word and of every other disciple of Jesus that invites to go to Christ the Lord or even to the Mother of God or the saints to receive a grace, a miracle, a special blessing or liberation from some evil. If we do not pass into the Gospel, the eternal salvation of the soul is at risk. Jesus says: “What use is it to a man to gain the whole world and then lose his soul?” Is it worthwhile to be healed of the leprosy of the body and to remain in the leprosy of the soul and of the spirit because the Commandments and the Law of the Lord are transgressed? Jesus always revealed not only the uselessness of the miracle, but also the highest eternal responsibility for those who did not convert to the Gospel. The miracle has only this purpose: helping conversion.

As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he travelled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, 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.”

God, the Lord, puts man in a position to approach him to ask for a grace. He gives grace to attest to his truth and the truth of all his Word. Once the grace is obtained, the invisible work of the Lord ends, the visible work of the ministers of the Word and of every other disciple of Jesus begins. They must help the one who has received grace to place himself in the Word, in the Gospel, to live in the body of Christ, to be true son of the Church and her true missionary to indicate to many others the way of true life. This is what happened with the Woman of Samaria: Jesus healed her spirit and she immediately brought her whole village to Him. The miracle was a true sign of faith.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every prayer answered becomes true salvation.