dedication

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Thursday, 21 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness, and people forever will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy.

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Wednesday, 20 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those who had been given more, will be given more, and those who have little, and do not utilise it, will be thrown out, and what he has will be taken away from him. That is what Jesus often told His disciples, through various parables, one of which is what we heard today, on the parable of the ten pounds.

All of us have been given with the rich gifts from the Lord. These are the gifts of faith, hope, and love. But these seeds will not grow if we just let them be. Yes, we have to nurture them and make them grow, that they will bear fruits. And that is what the Lord our God desires from us all. In this manner therefore, we are reminded of the parable that Jesus had used to bring this point across to the people.

The pounds of silver are likened to the gifts, each of the servants were given equal amounts of them. This is like all of us, all of whom are the servants of God, were given the same gifts of faith, hope, and love, which initially lie dormant within us. What we do with these gifts determine what these seeds will become, either to grow and multiply fivefold, tenfold, more or less, or remain the same as how it was when God gave these gifts to us.

The last one speaks about the action of the third servant, who admitted to his master, that he had the silver pound hidden, in fear and in idleness, that when his master returned, the pound of silver remains as it was, that is the same silver pound. He was duly chided, punished, and cast out, as an unworthy servant, who had squandered the gifts that had been given to him, and let those gifts go to waste.

That is what we should not do, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is to let these gifts God has granted us to go to waste. It is a waste if we do not use these gifts for others, and keep them hidden within ourselves. We must open ourselves and nurture those gifts, by spreading them with real action, real dedication, and real commitment, to do the will of God, at the centre of which is, love.

How to make sure that we truly be fertile and grow well, into creatures of faith, hope, and love? That is by putting into concrete action, these three cardinal virtues of our faith. Faith, by being not afraid to stand up against things that are in opposition of our faith, the things that are against the laws and precepts of the Lord. This has been shown by the seven brothers and their mother, who died martyrs of the faith, by their perseverance against the threats and tortures dealt to them by the king, Antiochus Epiphanes, and the wickedness he promoted among the people under his rule, including that of Israel.

These brothers and their mother endured grievous sufferings for standing up for the Lord, and remaining true and upright to the laws dictated by the Lord to mankind. They did not give up even when the king offered them wealth, possessions, the glories of the world, and all the pleasures and the beauty that the world could offer them. Instead, they, one by one, faced death willingly and joyfully, for they know that their rewards would be great with God, in heaven.

This is the kind of the living faith that God wants us to have. Not in the way that we should lay down our own lives for the Lord, but in the way that we should follow closely what the Lord had taught us, and uphold all of those values and tenets, and do not steer away from them. Our dedication to God should be as strong, or aspire to be like them. We should not be easily swayed by the fear of difficulties that will definitely be in our path.

Then comes hope. Hope is not just an abstract concept, but something that can be made concrete, through none other that our own actions. Our actions can indeed bring either hope, or its opposite, that is despair, towards others. We have been given love by our Lord, who planted in us the seeds of hope, together with that of faith and love. Have our own actions then, reflect this hope? Have we uplifted others who are without hope? And bring new hope to those who are in despair?

These are the questions that we should ponder upon, as we act in our daily lives. Have we show hope to others in need of it? Have we actually put down others or dampen the hope of others? Let us reflect on them. And finally, we go to the last of all virtues, and the greatest of them all, that had also been placed by God in us. This is love.

What is love? Love is the greatest expression of one’s care and affection to another, and this is modelled after the acts of the One who showed the greatest love of all, towards us. Yes, our Lord Himself is love, and His love for us is so great, that indeed, He gave us Jesus, through whom He made manifest His long planned salvation for all of us, that we will not die, but live eternally with Him.

So we all, as the children of God, should also reflect love in all of our actions. We must profess love, just as we have professed faith and hope. Without love, our faith in God is empty and meaningless. Our faith must be alive, and that is through love, and through hope. Similarly, we cannot love without first having faith and love, or that love will be grossly incomplete. They are all intertwined, and all are gifts of the Lord Most High to us.

We have a choice, brothers and sisters. The Lord has given all of us gifts and entrusted in our hands. Just like the pounds of silver given to the servants of the master. The Lord is our Master. We have a choice, whether we remain idle and do not let these gifts to grow, or invest in them, allow them to develop, through concrete actions, based in those values, namely faith, hope, and love.

Therefore, brethren, let us make a decision, and indeed, let us decide decisively, to follow the expectations of our Lord, that is through concrete dedication of ourselves to others in our actions, words, and deeds. May the Lord continue to watch over us, strengthen us, and bless us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 20 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 19 : 11-28

Jesus was now near Jerusalem, and the people with Him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. So as they were listening to Him, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to assume regal authority, after which he planned to return home. Before he left, he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver.”

“He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’ But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ He returned, however, appointed as king. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made.”

“The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.'”

“The master replied, ‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proven yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.'”

“The second reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!'”

“The third came in, and said, ‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you, for you are an exacting person : you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow,'”

“The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why, then, did you not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?'”

“Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!'”

“The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me to be their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me!'”

So Jesus spoke, and then He passed on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem.

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Wednesday, 20 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Maccabeus 7 : 1, 20-31

It happened also that seven brothers were arrested with their mother. The king had them scourged and flogged to force them to eat the flesh of a pig which was prohibited by the Law.

More than all of them, their mother ought to be admired and remembered. She saw her seven sons die in a single day. But she endured it even with joy for she had put her hope in the Lord.

Full of a noble sense of honour, she encouraged each one of them in the language of their ancestors. Her woman’s heart was moved by manly courage, so she told them : “I wonder how you were born of me; it was not I who gave you breath and life, nor I who ordered the matter of your body. The Creator of the world who formed man in the beginning and ordered the unfolding of all creation shall in His mercy, give you back breath and life, since you now despise them for love of His laws.”

Antiochus thought that she was making fun of him and suspected that she had insulted him. As the youngest was still alive, the king tried to win him over not only with his words, but even promised to make him rich and happy, if he would abandon the traditions of his ancestors. He would make him his Friend and appoint him to a high position in the kingdom.

But as the young man did not pay him any attention, the king ordered the mother to be brought in. He urged her to advise her son in order to save his life. After being asked twice by the king, she agreed to persuade her son. She bent over him and fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her ancestral language : “My son, have pity on me. For nine months I carried you in my womb and suckled you for three years; I raised you up and educated you until this day.”

“I ask you now, my son, that when you see the heavens, the earth, and all that is in it, you know that God made all this from nothing, and the human race as well. Do not fear these executioners, but make yourself worthy of your brothers – accept death that you may again meet your brothers in the time of mercy.”

When she finished speaking, the young man said, “What are you waiting for? I do not obey the king’s order but the precepts of the Law given by Moses to our ancestors. And you who have devised such tortures against the Hebrews, shall not escape the hands of God.”

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Tuesday, 19 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we continue on today with the story from the time of just over a hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ, when the Jews under Judas Maccabeus and his family rose up in rebellion against their Greek overlords, the Seleucid Empire, particularly that of king Antiochus Epiphanes. The Greek king and many of his successors imposed Hellenic or Greek culture and civilisation on the people, who were often forces to choose between obedience or death.

Such was the case that happened when the upright Eleazar, already ninety years in age, was brought for judgment for his refusal to obey the king’s order and abandon his faith. Eleazar was tortured, scourged, and forced to obey the king’s commands or face death. Yet, Eleazar did not budge, and not even when his acquaintances tried to convince him to lie and pretend, in order to save his own life.

Eleazar chose the Lord and his faith over the pleasures and safety of the world, knowing well that the Lord who knows all that His faithful ones had done, will reward him in the end, exchanging the suffering of his death into the glory of eternal life in joy, with God. And so he did, and he received from the Lord, the crown of life everlasting.

Such was the faith the Eleazar had, and he did not give way to sin to corrupt him, even to the end, and even through the grievous sufferings he had to suffer. He spurned the offer of the devil, which was conveyed through the acquaintances. An easy and good life in old age would have been his, had he chosen to take up the devil’s offer. But the consequences for eternity, would be immense. That was why Eleazar chose to abandon temporary joy and false happiness in order to gain one that is everlasting.

In today’s Gospel Reading, we hear the story of the repentant sinner, the tax collector Zaccheus. Zaccheus was considered a great sinner in the eyes of the people of Jesus’ time, given his position as a tax collector, that is the collector of taxes and money for their Roman masters. They were cast out of the society and considered as traitors of the nation, having done dirty work in place of their Roman superiors. They were deemed as misfits, even though many of them, were actually decent people like us. Imperfect, yes, but definitely not beyond redemption.

Zaccheus showed his great love, dedication, and faith to God, accompanied by strong desire to seek God, and the great curiosity he had shown towards Jesus. Just imagine, even though he was short, he tried very hard to be able to even get a glimpse of the Lord. He climbed the tree and see the Lord as He walked towards him. Jesus knew his faith, and Zaccheus was rewarded.

What is important, is what came afterwards. Zaccheus made a public proclamation of his faith, testifying before the masses of people, many of whom considered him an outcast, a traitor of their people, and a great sinner. Zaccheus brushed all of that aside, and caring not about their hostility, he showed the great faith he has in God, repenting for all of his sins, and made a concrete promise to the Lord, of his commitment to righteousness.

That was the faith of Zaccheus, a repentant sinner, committed to the Lord and to His precepts. It may look different from the faith of Eleazar, but nevertheless, both of them proclaimed their faith to God, each in their own distinct ways. Eleazar held fast to his faith, and did not budge even in the face of evil, frustrating the attempts of those trying to corrupt him to the ways of evil. While Zaccheus repented his past mistakes, and revelled in the new faith that he has obtained by believing in Christ, and committing himself to a total change in life.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we too have our own styles and differences in how we follow the Lord, but what is most important is that no matter what we do, we must adhere to His ways and do what He has shown us to do. We must always believe that there is always a chance for sinners, which include all of us. But we must not wait until it is too late for us. Whenever there is a chance, and in fact, at this very moment, grab the opportunity, and repent.

Yes, the Lord loves us, and if we are truly repentant and committed to change, like Zaccheus had done, He will lift us up and bring us to glories greater than we can ever imagine. Let us all be committed to change, to change our ways of life, that we will be ever more aligned with our Lord. On a side note, we must never judge others, as what the people had just judged Zaccheus with.

May the Lord empower us with His love, and grant us faith, that we will be strong in our faith and our love for Him, like Eleazar and Zaccheus had shown. Amen.

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Monday, 18 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of Basilica)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we listen today to the beginnings of a great tragedy, where the people of Israel, was subjected to the attempts of acculturation and Hellenisation, which happened during the years after Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world. They suffered persecution and ridicule, subjected into attempts to corrupt them from the one and true faith in God.

In the second reading, the same happened, with St. Paul being led into custody of the Romans, brought to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, to be judged by the Emperor for his supposed crimes. St. Paul was charged by his Jewish opponents, who resisted his attempts to bring the Good News to them. Rather than being killed at Jerusalem, St. Paul chose to appeal to the Emperor, and in doing so, as we listened, he gained a chance to evangelise yet one last time, at the city of Rome, where the centre of our Church now lies.

Today we listened to the tale of both St. Paul and St. Peter, the earlier as mentioned, and the latter, as we listened to the story of Jesus performing the miracle of walking on the water in the middle of the storm. St. Peter took the scene, as he tried to walk on the water and as he doubted, he almost sank into the water. Jesus rescued him and chided him about his lack of faith in Him. So we heard today about both St. Paul and St. Peter, who at the end of their lives, went to Rome to be martyred there.

Yes, in that old and venerable city, the Eternal City, as many would call it. It is where the two greatest saints and pillars of the Church were welcomed into the hands of the Lord through holy martyrdom. Today we mark the commemoration of the dedication of two great basilicas, namely the Papal Basilica of St. Peter, where most of the Pope’s celebrations take place, and the Papal Basilica of St. Paul, also known as St. Paul Outside the Walls, because it was located outside the walls of the ancient city of Rome. It was also where St. Paul stayed during his two year stay in Rome, prior to his martyrdom by the Emperor Nero.

These two saints were exemplary in their actions, just as what some brave people of Israel, God’s first chosen people had done at the time of persecution under the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes. They stood up bravely and courageously for their faith without being corrupted or tempted by the offers of worldly pleasures and temporary glories offered to them, if they just would betray the Lord and their faith.

Yet these people were also pretty much ordinary people like ourselves, and they too were much like us sinful and weak, as St. Peter himself had shown in that storm in the lake, where his lack of faith to God made him almost sink as he walked on the water towards Jesus. St. Paul was once a great enemy of the faith, and he hounded many hundreds if not thousands of the early believers of the Lord, sending them to their deaths. We too lacked the faith at times, brothers and sisters, and doubt is always in our mind.

And yet, through Christ and His love, they have been transformed into powerful tools of His presence and love. God made them to be the bearers of the Good News and they went on faithfully with their missions to the end. And through their hard and dedicated works, many people were saved. Their works of salvation continues even today, through their successors, our bishops and their priests, and primarily, the Bishop of Rome, our Pope, now Pope Francis, the leader of the entire Universal Church.

It is often that times are truly hard for our Church, especially in the recent times. The ways of the world are increasingly becoming more and more antithesis to what our Church stands up for, that is our faith in God, true and just. The corruptions of this world threaten to sink many people in the storm of this turbulent world. Remember what had happened to St. Peter in that stormy night.

The Lord picked him up by the hand and strengthened his faith. Indeed, St. Peter was to abandon his faith yet another time, when he denied knowing the Lord, not just once, but three times in total! He did so, because his faith in God is wavering, having seen Jesus, the one hope that he and the other apostles had had, captured, tortured, and mocked like a lowly criminal. He abandoned the Lord for the security of the world.

St. Paul too was a leading Jew, who was a Pharisee and very strict in his observation of the Law, and was particularly hostile to the followers of Jesus in the early days of the Church. He hunted them without mercy, and caused the death of many people of the Lord. He took part in the stoning and murder is St. Stephen, the first martyr, and was a great scourge to the faithful.

Then what differentiates them from the people of Israel, who abandoned their faith in God, for the sake of their own security and to secure the favour of the king? And how was St. Peter even different from Judas Iscariot, the traitor? Did they both not betray the Lord? One through direct betrayal and the other by abandoning Him at the time of His greatest sorrow?

That is because, St. Peter professed his true and undying faith in the Lord, and he repented from his past mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, as is common to us because of our humanity, for we are predisposed to sin ever since we were exposed to it. What is important is that, we learn from those mistakes, face them with courage and faith, and repent, that is change our ways, to conform again to that of God! That was what St. Peter, as well as St. Paul had done.

Judas Iscariot felt the guilt after he had betrayed the Lord, but instead of learning from his mistakes, and accepting the chance of repentance the Lord gave him, he chose the quick way out, that is suicide. He did not repent, and therefore was counted among the lost ones. He also stole the money of the Lord and His disciples and was unrepentant about it, even to the end.

St. Peter professed his love and dedication to the Lord, and he showed it with true sincerity, knowing fully the guilt and the faults he had done, and yet, he still professed that love he has for God, and the Lord gave him, the stewardship over this world, over all of the faithful ones in God, as His Vicar on earth. St. Paul too met a life-changing experience, after the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus. He received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and the truth about all things were revealed to him in its entirety.

Ever since, both Apostles, as well as the other apostles and disciples of Christ, tirelessly laboured for the sake of God and His kingdom, without end going from one end of the earth to the other, as witnesses to God and His saving power. They laboured hard and the fruits grew aplenty, as the faith spread among many, converting many to the cause of Christ. And despite the storm that threatened to engulf all the faithful, they stabilised the ship, and made it last to the present day.

St. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, at the site now where the Basilica of St. Peter now stood. He chose to do so because he found himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way the Lord had done. St. Paul too was beheaded in Rome, after the burning of Rome was blamed by the reigning Emperor, Nero, on the followers of Christ. See the dedication, faith, and love that these two saints have for our Lord!

Today, therefore, as we commemorate the two great Basilicas dedicated in their honour, that of St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, and St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, let us take this opportunity to reflect, on whether we have taken the same choice or whether we will be ready to commit ourselves to the same choice that both saints had chosen. Remember that saints too were called from sinners. We can opt to choose the easy way, that is what Judas and the people of Israel had done, or take the difficult and challenge-ridden path that the Apostles had once taken, all the way to the end, where the glory of heaven awaits them.

May our Lord Jesus, who helped St. Peter out of the water in his doubt, also help us to overcome our doubts and empower us with love, hope, and faith, that we will be able to make a commitment towards reaching out to the Lord, choosing the right path in the end. May He continue to love us and watch over us. Amen.

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Saturday, 16 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland, and St. Gertrude, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins and Mass of our Lady)

Luke 18 : 1-8

Jesus told them a parable, to show them that they should pray continually, and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my opponent!'”

“For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.'”

And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays in answering them? I tell you, He will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

 

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Thursday, 14 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 17 : 20-25

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe, and say of it, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘See, there it is!’ for the kingdom of God is within you.”

And Jesus said to His disciples, “The time is at hand, when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Then people will tell you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go with them, do not follow them.”

“As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man; but first He must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.”

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Wednesday, 13 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brethren in Christ, today we listen again to the healing miracle of the ten lepers by the power of Christ our Lord. The Lord has authority over all things, as the Lord and Creator of all things in this universe. He alone has the power to alter everything as He saw fit. He had come down to us in Jesus His Son, to bring about concrete change to all of us, reaching out to us all as we are all in one way or another, sick.

Yes, we are sick, and we are ill, brethren! Not the illness of the physique or those that are visible to the eyes, but the illness that is inside our souls. This is what Christ had come to us to cure. For physical illnesses and diseases can have many cures but for this illness of the soul, there is only one and only cure, that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus, as He Himself had said, came especially for the sick and for those who are downtrodden. And yes, we are all sickened, brothers and sisters, and this sickness, that is of our soul, is the illness of sin. Yes, sin is our suffering and the pain that had infected us, affected us, and made us all unworthy before God our Lord.

Sin is a leprosy, yes the most terrible form of leprosy indeed, that is the leprosy of the soul. All of us have sinned at one point of our lives, and indeed, even from day to day we have sinned and inflict on ourselves more and more of this leprosy. And just like leprosy, sin spread like disease, affecting all of us, corrupting the health of our souls. Sin has no bounds and it affects everything.

Yet, unlike our diseases of the body, which inflicts physical pain and suffering to us, which none of us would certainly like, sin is often enjoyable and even attractive to many of us, that we are constantly always tempted to commit sin in our daily lives. That is why, sin is so dangerous, and we all ought to be careful, lest we all fall into corruption of sin.

The Lord Jesus came to us to heal us from this affliction, just as He showed His power by healing the lepers, the paralysed, those with physical debilitation, as those with spiritual illness, as those whose demons He had cast out. But often, we are too proud to admit our sinfulness and indeed, this illness, this leprosy of our souls. We are like those portrayed by the Book of Wisdom in our first reading as the proud and the mighty, those who do not bend their knees to acknowledge our Lord, the Master of all.

We are also often like the nine other lepers, the ones who did not return to Jesus after knowing that they have been healed. Jesus did not ask them to give Him thanks or worship Him for what He had done, but yet the one leper, the Samaritan, returned and give thanks and glory to God. For he knew that it is God who is the One with the power and authority, healing him from the leprosy that had affected him.

We are often like the nine other lepers, because we are often too immersed in our joy and happiness, when we received good things from God, that we failed to give Him thanks for all the blessings He had granted us. We often even give glory to ourselves and praise ourselves instead of God. That is what happened to the nine other lepers, that they were so engaged in their happiness, that they dashed off back to their old lives without stopping and use the chance to thank God as the Samaritan had done.

Nevertheless, brethren, we must not think that God does not want us to be happy, as what He wants from us is merely our love for Him. It is only right and just that we thank Him for the multitudes that He had given us. Not the least of which, is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the greatest gift God had given us mankind, because in Jesus, we are saved and given a new lease of life, and He did this precisely by striking against that leprosy of the soul, that is sin!

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us take time to reflect, whether for the many good things God had given us, we have thanked Him properly for them. God does not need us to utter a long litany of thanks, as what He truly needs is, none other than our love, and our wholehearted dedication to Him. May the Lord who loves us dearly, continue to bless us and watch over us, as we grow in His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 17 : 11-19

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, and as He entered a village, ten lepers came to meet Him. Keeping their distance, they called to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Jesus said to them, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.”

Then, as they went on their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave Him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.

Then, Jesus asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?” And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”