Your Faith Has Saved You

I like the 10 lepers story.  Luke presents these men outside of a village who implore Jesus, the Son of David, to have pity on them.  Jesus who is on his way to Jerusalem, tells the men to present themselves to the priests.  On the way they are cured.  On of them realizing what has happened, returns to Jesus, giving praise and thanks to God.

Of course the important element here is that the one has realized, or maybe better yet, has been able to piece together what is happening, and gives thanks to God for his saving activity in the world.  Namely the Incarnation and the forth-coming passion, death, and resurrection.  This man's thankful response is a model of our own call to praise and thank God for the gifts we have received.  When we are thankful we begin to consider the love of the giver of the gift.  We contemplate the generosity and the selflessness that has been directed towards us.  In doing so we are hopefully transformed and even changed.

In 1980 the U.S. Catholic Bishops put together a letter entitled, Called and Gifted: The American Catholic Laity.  It was done as a response to the Vatican document concerning the laity in the Church.  The crux of the letter is the importance of taking responsibility for the faith we profess.  We are proclaimers of the Gospel, evangelizers, faith leaders, and are accountable for the gifts we have received.  In a spirit of thanksgiving we receive God's gifts gratefully, cherish and nourish those gifts, share God's gifts justly and with charity, and return them with increase to the Lord. 

Being thankful stewards is what we do after we say, "I Believe."  We have every indication that the Samaritan begins a new journey following Jesus on the way to Jerusalem.  Now this man recognizes that his faith has healed him.