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Fr. Casey's Homily

In some ways this is one of the most incredible stories in the entire Gospel. Here were ten extremely fortunate people. The had been cured of the most dreaded disease of all: Leprosy.

Leprosy was a terrible disease. It just rotted the skin off the person. It brought disfigurement to the individual. Perhaps the worst part of leprosy was that it cut the person off from this family, his community, his village. No one could go near a leper.

Lepers had to wear cowbells around their necks and warn people that they were coming. They had to cry out, "UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!" if anyone approached them.

It was truly a terrible disease.

With this in mind we see Jesus in his infinite mercy and love curing these ten individuals of this horrendous disease.

St. Luke tells us in this Gospel that only one came back to give thanks. Ten were cured and only one came back. Where were the other nine – Jesus asks? Ten were cleansed – were they not?

But were the other nine really cleansed?

Oh sure, when you looked at them they seemed cleansed. Their bodies were made whole. To the naked eye they were cured.

But were they really?

The other nine were declared clean by the priest. The one Jesus sent them to. While it is true that their sores and scars were made whole. But really, what about them had really changed?

They were the same people with the same hard attitudes, mean, and selfish people. Not only did they have outer leprosy, they also had inner leprosy. And it is unlikely that they were ever cured of that.

But the Samaritan came back. The the Samaritan of all people. He had a number of reasons not to come back.

• The man who cured him was a Jew – Jesus.
• There was no love between a Jew and a Samaritan.

However being the kind of man he was, he set these reasons aside and did what had to be done. He went back to render thanks.

Excuses – Excuses from the other nine.
Some may have been real. Others may have been shy. Yet these excuses prevented those people from doing what they should have done.

We all have excuses from keeping us from giving thanks to those people who deserve out thanks.

How often do children give thanks to their parents?

Parents who give up so much for their children. Parents who worry and worry when their son or daughter is out at night driving the family car or even in their own car. Is he safe? Will he be all right?

And parents – Be grateful to your children. How proud they make you. They need your love and support as they go through difficult years with the difficult challenges that they face. They need you to take the time to be there when they need you the most. Also they need you to trust them.

There are so many people we should give thanks to. Along with our family and friends our fellow workers, the teachers in school, the volunteers in parishes and in schools. The police and fire fighters. How about those people in the super market who check out your groceries. People who help you find items in stores. People who wait on us. And regardless on your beliefs about the war in Iraq, we should wholeheartedly thank all those men and women listed in our bulletin.

Most importantly we should give thanks to our God who gave us life. The God who sent His only begotten Son into the world to die for us.

We are here today to give thanks to God at this Eucharist. What does the word Eucharist mean? It means giving thanks, giving thanks to God. When we celebrate the Eucharist we are proclaiming God's mighty acts on our behalf, especially in Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

The story of the ten lepers reminds us all of how often we fail to express out thanks to our God and to all those around us.

May we be more aware this week of the people who surround us and love us very much.