Reflection/Homily: Twenty-Eight (28th) Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year C (13th Oct. 2013)
Theme: The Church, the Sacraments of Healing and the Power of Gratitude
Every act of
healing is an opportunity God uses to reveal Himself to humanity. In most
cases, He intervenes with ordinary words and actions which produce
extraordinary effects. The story of Naaman’s healing through the Prophet Elisha
in the first reading (2 Kings 5:14-17) explains this better. Naaman, a
foreigner was made to believe in the God of Israel not through a rational
knowledge of God (theology) which he was taught but through an experiential
knowledge of the healing power of God. The story of Naaman represents the
various stories of our encounter with God in our quest for healing, whether
spiritual or physical. We often run helter-skelter, ready to explore all
available options in desperate need of one favour or the other. But most often,
we do not return like Naaman to give thanks to God.
In the
Gospel reading (Luke 17:11-19), Jesus asks “were not all ten healed? Where are
the other nine?” Through this, he expresses the fact that God actually looks
forward to receiving our gratitude for favours received. Like Naaman, the leper
mentioned in the gospel reading did not only express his gratitude with words,
he went further to express a deeper level of conviction in Jesus. Trying to
find ourselves represented in the characters presented to us, where do we fall?
Are we represented in Naaman and the Samaritan leper who returned to give
thanks or are we represented in the “other nine” who perhaps thought Jesus was
simply doing what he is known for?
