28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
It-28 Ħadd matul is-Sena
Messalin
C pp 416 .
Naaman
went down and plunged into the Jordan Israel
L-Ewwel Lezzjoni - Qari
mit-2 Ktieb tas-Slaten 5, 1-17
F'dak
iż-żmien, Nagħman, il-kmandant tal-eżerċitu tas-Sultan ta' Aram
Responsorial Psalm PSalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
R.
(cf. 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his
saving power.
Sing
to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. R/.
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. R/.
The
LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house ofIsrael
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of
All
the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise. R/
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise. R/
Salm Responsorjali - SALM 97 (98)
R/ Il-Mulej għarraf is-salvazzjoni
lill-ġnus!
Għannu lill-Mulej għanja ġdida;
għax għamel ħwejjeġ tal-għaġeb.
Ġibitlu r-rebħa l-leminija tiegħu,
u d-driegħ imqaddes tiegħu. R/
Għarraf il-Mulej is-salvazzjoni tiegħu,
f'għajnejn il-ġnus wera l-ġustizzja
tiegħu.
Ftakar fit-tjieba u l-fedelta' tiegħu
mal-poplu ta' Iżrael. R/
L-art kollha, minn
rat
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Għajtu bil-ferħ lill-Mulej fl-art
kollha,
infexxu fil-hena, iffirħu u għannu! R/
Reading 2 2 timothy 2:8-13
Beloved:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my
gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I bear with everything for the
sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is
in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory. This
saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if
we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If
we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. This is the Word of the Lord.
It-Tieni Lezzjoni - Qari
mit-2 Ittra lil Timotju 2, 8 – 13
Għażiż, ftakar f'Ġesu'
Kristu, li qam mill-imwiet, li hu min-nisel ta' David, skond l-Evanġelju li ħabbart
jien. Għalih jien qiegħed inbati sa
l-irbit tal-ktajjen bħallikieku għamilt
xi delitt. Imma l-kelma ta' Alla mhijiex
marbuta! Għalhekk kollox nieħu
bis-sabar għall-imħabba ta' dawk li Alla għażel, biex huma wkoll jiksbu
s-salvazzjoni, li hi ta' glorja għal dejjem fi Kristu Ġesu'. Din hi kelma ta'
min joqgħod fuqha: jekk aħna mitna miegħu,
għad ngħixu miegħu wkoll; jekk insofru bis-sabar, għad inslatnu miegħu wkoll;
jekk niċħduh, jiċħadna hu wkoll; jekk nonqsu mill-kelma li tajna, hu jibqa'
jżomm kelmtu; għax hu ma jistax iqarraq bih innifsu. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel
- LuKe 17:11-19
As
Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem , he travelled
through Samaria and Galilee .
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from
him and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on
us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the
priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And
one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud
voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He
was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where
are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to
give thanks to God?" Then he said to him,
"Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." This is the Word of the Lord.
L-Evanġelju
- Qari
skond San Luqa 17,
11-19
Ġara li huwa u sejjer lejn Ġerusalem,Ġesu
għadda minn
"Qum
u mur; il-fidi tiegħek salvatek." Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
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COMMENTARY
A Day of Remembering
Sunday's readings are about
remembering and thanksgiving, healing and salvation. In the Old Testament reading (2
Kings 5:14-17), Naaman the Syrian remembers to thank Elisha for his cure, and
one of the 10 lepers cured by Jesus remembered to turn up and thank his healer.
In the reading from the Second Letter to Timothy (8-13), Paul asks Timothy (and
us) to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. Recalling Jesus' death and
resurrection fills us with gratitude, heals and strengthens us to face any
adversity, difficulty and suffering, thus making us people of gratitude.
Naaman’s double cleansing
First let us consider the Old
Testament reading. The imposing person of Naaman is told by the Prophet Elisha
that he should seven times bathe in the Jordan River
to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman replied indignantly, “Are not the rivers of
Damascus , the Abana and the Pharpar, better than
all the waters of Israel Syria
were undoubtedly better: They had more water; they were no match hygienically
for the mountain spring waters of Damascus
Naaman was disappointed and expected
this "man of God," Elisha, to perform a much more dramatic sign.
Naaman even doubted the advice that he had received from the prophet. With
great reluctance, he finally gives in to the pleading of his servants to do
what the prophet said. Washing in the Jordan
The two mule-loads of earth that he
requests will enable him to take a bit of Israelite earth to his native Syria , where he will build in Aram Israel
Along the journey to Jerusalem
Let us situate Sunday’s Gospel (Luke
17:11-19) in Luke’s narrative. This passage begins with the line: “As Jesus
continued his journey to Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem ,”
Jesus will not leave the meaning of the journey to the disciples’ memory; he
will prophesy for the third and final time his passion in the Holy City
One grateful leper
This Sunday’s incident of the
cleansed and grateful Samaritan leper is narrated only in Luke's Gospel and
provides an instance of Jesus holding up a non-Jew (17:18) as an example to his
Jewish contemporaries (cf. 10:33) where a similar purpose is achieved in the
story of the Good Samaritan. Moreover, it is the faith in Jesus manifested by
the foreigner that has brought him salvation (17:19).
Geography plays a special role in
Luke’s Gospel and it is can be literary, theological or physical. In this
story, the border between Galilee and Samaria
Understanding a complex story
This Gospel nevertheless raises
several significant questions. Was the Samaritan, who lived outside the
requirements of Judaism, included in the command to go to a priest? Why did
Jesus reproach the nine for not returning (verses 17-18) when they had been
told to go show themselves to a priest for a confirmation of their cure and a
release from the status of uncleanness? Jesus’ words to the returning
Samaritan: “Your faith has made you well,” seem rather odd, since all of them
were healed!
Sunday’s Gospel must be understood
as having two distinct parts: verses 11-14 and 15-19. The first part is a
healing story with the standard elements: a cry for help; the response of
Jesus; a healing in the act of obedience similar to that of 5:12-16. The second
part of the story is the salvation of a foreigner. It is the foreigner who
returns, who praises God and who expresses gratitude to Jesus. When Jesus says:
“Your faith has made you well," the blessing certainly refers to some
benefit other than that which all, including the other nine, had received
earlier. The verb “made well” is the same very often translated “to be saved.”
Salvation by faith
This Gospel is about a foreigner
with two counts against him; he received salvation by faith. The man was a
Samaritan, a social outcast and a religious heretic suffering from leprosy. In
the presence of Jesus, only the foreigner receives the full blessing of Jesus’
ministry. Once again Luke’s predilection for foreigners, outsiders, outcasts,
the sick and sinners is very evident in this story.
This story anticipates the great
story of the Acts of the Apostles: a growing blindness in Israel
God's generosity is ungrudging and
his mercy is showered upon all, both the grateful and the ungrateful. Nine of
the 10 lepers healed did not return to praise God for their healing.
Nevertheless, they are healed, and the wideness of God's mercy is exalted even
in their ingratitude, and ours. Both the Naaman story and the parable of the 10
lepers teach us some powerful lessons about remembrance, gratitude, healing and
salvation.
Signs of gratitude
Thankfulness is much more than
saying "Thank you" because we have to. It is a way to experience the
world, to perceive and to be surprised. Thankfulness is having open eyes and a
short distance between the eyes and the heart. What are the signs of grateful
people? Tears are always wiped away from the eyes of those who are thankful.
The courage to thank, to see the gifts and experiences of this world all
together as a gift, changes not only the person who gains this insight. It also
changes the environment, the world, and those who surround that person.
Grateful hearts are the hallmark of authentic Christians. Those who possess the
virtue of gratitude are truly rich. They not only know how richly they have
been blessed, but they continuously remember that all good things come from
God.
To acknowledge others, to say thank
you to others is the mark of greatness. If people associated with us are
dispirited, dejected, unmotivated and uninspired, might it have something to do
with the fact that we have never expressed our thanks and gratitude to them for
who they are and what they do? People bound together by gratitude are always
discovering and awakening abundant sources of strength. The more thankful a
person is, the richer he or she is within. Thankful people store up in their
grateful memory all the good experiences of the past, just as the French
proverb states: “Gratitude is the heart’s memory.”
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