28th Sunday Ordinary Time (October 9, 2016)

The story of the ten lepers is a very familiar one, and everyone is reminded of the need for gratitude.  We are to live in gratitude.  All of life is a gift to us. May we live with an attitude of gratitude for the ways that are lives so richly blessed.

But today, let take a different view of the story.  Lepers in ancient times were seen as unclean, as people to be shunned and kept far apart.  It was one of so many things for which society ostracized individuals.  When Jesus cured he told the lepers to go to the priest who could end their isolation and restore them to the community. 

In a sense, the power of the priests and the temple and Jesus sending the lepers are a challenge to what the church is and does today.  Like it or not, do we subconsciously isolate and cast aside others in how we treat or welcome them to the church and to our worship and friendship.  Do we consciously or subconsciously push away people for one reason or another finding them not worthy of our fellowship?  Jesus was a man present to anybody he met, and he shunned no one nor did he judge anyone.

Jesus was no pushover, but he was a man who was grounded in love, and as God on embracing that mission of love calling on all to follow him.  Did he cast aside anyone as he traveled the roads or cities of his times?  How often did he point out that Love of God was central, and that the temple and law were to facilitate and serve women and men, not to burden and harden their journey.  Anything separating us from each other or from God is not then in God’s plan.  Unnecessary burdens or regulations or laws are just that and should be abandoned.

Truth be told.  In some way or another are we not all Samaritans and lepers, outsiders and outcasts, yet graciously admitted to the covenant by a love that dares to violate boundaries in order to make us whole again.  How then could we ever dare to judge or exclude a fellow leper?

All of us agree, I think, that we wish to be a Church of welcome.  We wish to exclude no one.  But are we willing to back those words up with actions?  Do we really know why former parishioners have chosen to worship somewhere else or not at all?  What is our level of commitment to St Joseph’s Church that says we are stakeholders, we are stewards to the mission of our Church that says we are a Church of love, of welcome, of service to one another and service to all in need.  How committed are we to be the disciples of Jesus – disciples who witness to the compassion, the forgiveness, the welcome of Jesus?

To be the Church of Jesus demands much more than a competent staff;  to be the Church of Jesus demands the commitment of the entire community of the baptized.  For us to provide the worship, the faith formation,  Catholic education, pastoral care, the youth ministry, community building, evanglization, and heartfelt welcome to new parishioners demands the commitment of the entire community of the baptized.  This means the commitment of each one of us to share the unique giftedness that is ours.
 
How do we make this happen?  It happens when we become a stewardship parish – a stewardship parish in which everyone fills out a stewardship card sharing a bit of time, a bit of talent, and a bit of treasure in the service of becoming a Church which witnesses of the Love of Jesus in all that we say and do.  If it is true that love is the first requirement of a disciple of Jesus, if it is true that love is not just a feeling, but it is an action, it is a decision, it is a way of living by which we commit to be a church in which we are better together.  Our stewardship commitment holds us accountable to our parish mission and  vision.

When we are a prayerful as shown in our stewardship of time, when we make a commitment to sharing our talents for the benefit of our parish ministry, when we tithe to the parish as well to the diocese in our CMA pledge, we are the real deal in helping to make the mission of St. Joseph’s parish the mission of Jesus in which all are welcome and no one is judged or excluded.

Our stewardship commitment Sunday is two weeks from today in which we ask you to place your stewardship commitment card in the second collection.  If for some reason you did not get a stewardship commitment card in the mail or have lost track of the CMA pledge card, please let our information team member know this in the gathering space after Mass.  We will gladly solve that problem.

Coming back to the Gospel account, we see the Samaritan healed leper coming back to give thanks.  God’s healing love is a free gift (a grace) that is given to the ten lepers in the Gospel accounts and God’s gift of His love is given to each one of us, but God’s love to us demands a response, a RSVP.  We are to live in gratitude; we are to live a life of stewardship in which we show our gratitude by sharing what we have with others.
Gratitude is not a just social grace in learning to say thank you.  Gratitude is a habit of the heart.  Gratitude enriches us:  it opens us to experience the bounty of God and others.  The more we become grateful people, the more we will find to be grateful for.
The same is true for the life of stewardship.  The more we hold ourselves to be accountable for our stewardship commitment, the more blessed our generosity becomes and the more we experience in the depths of our being a hunger for God.
The great mystic, Meister Eckhart, once said, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.

Today Jesus sees ten lepers from afar and shows extraordinary mercy.  Jesus looks upon us as well and shows extraordinary mercy.  We are called to be witnesses of the extraordinary mercy of Jesus in the lives of one and all.