Looking into One’s Eyes: The Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                       Looking into One’s Eyes

The Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2022

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2 Kings5:14-17; Psalm 98; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

 

          We hear two stories of gratitude following Leprosy cleansings, and each story of gratitude is quite different. Naaman, the Syrians, is adamant that he make a gift to Elisha, who steadfastly refuses. Naaman rightly wanted to make an offering because of the blessings he received, while nine lepers in the Gospel passage did not even bother to thank Jesus once they were healed. Only a foreigner, a Samaritan, returned to give thanks. Naaman was also a non-Jew. We can put a good spin on the story and hope that the nine Jews went to the synagogue to give thanks, but the implication is they did not, and then went on their ways to be reintegrated back into the community.

 

          A spirit of gratitude is a certain sign of a vibrant faith, because faith is all about trusting in God, and in a world that is uncertain and precarious, being aware of our blessings and good fortunes helps us maintain a spirit of thankfulness. We are like those two foreigners because we are here today, showing up at church so that we may worship because we are aware of our dependence upon God and knowing that we depend upon seeing each other gathered in one place to give thanks. 

 

          I think we have all been stung by people who take us for granted and expect us to provide for them without any acknowledgement of the amount of time we expend and the amount of work we do for them. We are not expecting an expression of gratitude, but when someone’s character is revealed to us, we are left almost speechless. Sometimes the character is one of entitlement, or the person is self-centered or self-preoccupied, or one is not fully capable of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings. It leaves us perplexed, and perhaps annoyed. You can read this into the feelings are Jesus as he is grateful for the one because it lessens the blow, but his feelings must have been hurt by the other nine.

 

          The reason children are taught to say “thank you” is because it is an acknowledgement that we exist in a community and that we are to rely upon each other. It is hard for them to do at times. There is an inherent power balance set up, and they do not want to acknowledge that they depend upon someone else’s graciousness. They say it in a rushed way without looking us in the eyes as if they are annoyed, even though they know it is the right way. We are not to be receivers without also giving back in an economy of thanks. We acknowledge that we each do our part, however small or large it can be, but it is in being aware of others and the rich gifts they bring to us. Saying thanks allows us to see goodness and the relationship with others and to be aware of how much we need one another. Acknowledging the person, not just with our words, but with our eyes, enlarges our world and forms a bond, not based on power but on the power of humanity. Giving thanks makes us more human, and we can share in communal joy. 

 

Giving thanks points us to the divine. It would be difficult to worship without being able to say thanks. Our time of worship is our moment to look God in the eye to reveal what is in our heart – that we rely upon God and we want to be respectful friends who can share our joys and sufferings. It is also the time that God looks back into our eyes and says something like this, “That you are here makes me happy. That you say thanks fills me with affection. You brighten my day, and I’m thankful for you. This is indeed a happy moment. Words cannot describe my joy.”

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

 

Monday: (Galatians 4) It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the freeborn woman. The son of the slave woman was born naturally, the son of the freeborn through a promise. Now this is an allegory. These women represent two covenants.

 

Tuesday: (Galatians 5) You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

 

Wednesday: (Galatians 5) In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.

 

Thursday: (Ephesians 1) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. 

 

Friday (Ephesians 1) In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,
so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.

 

Saturday (Ephesians 1) Hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the holy ones, I do not cease giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.

 

Gospel: 

 

Monday: (Luke 11) At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.

 

Tuesday: (Luke 11) The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

 

Wednesday (Luke 11) Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

 

Thursday (Luke 11) When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

 

Friday (Luke 12) So many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven–that is, the hypocrisy–of the Pharisees.

 

Saturday (Luke 12) When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.

 

Saints of the Week

 

October 9: Denis, bishop and martyr, and companion martyrs (d. 258), was the first bishop of Paris. He died during the Decian persecutions by beheading at Montmarte, the highest hill in the city. Lore has it that he picked up his head after the beheading and walked six miles while giving a sermon. Denis was sent to Paris to bring Christianity and was thereby called, “The apostle to the Gauls.”

 

October 9: John Leonardi (1542-1609), was a pharmacist’s assistant before studying for the priesthood. He became interested in the reforms of the Council of Trent and gathered laymen around him to work in prisons and hospitals. He contracted the plague while ministering to those who were sick. He founded the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God to care for the sick.

 

October 12: John Beyzym, S.J., priest (1850-1912), was Ukranian-born, entered the Jesuits, and petitioned to work among the people of Madagascar who had Hansen’s disease (leprosy.) Since the lepers lived in remote shanty buildings with no windows or facilities, Beyzym worked hard to improve their living conditions, build a hospital, and a church. He died after contracting the disease. 

 

October 14: Callistus I, pope and martyr (d. 222) was a slave of a Christian who put him in charge of a bank that failed. He was jailed and upon his release became a deacon and counselor to Pope Zephyrinus. He became the first overseer of the official Christian cemetery that was eventually named after him. When he was elected Pope he introduced humanitarian reforms. He died during an uprising against Christians.  

 

October 15: Teresa of Avila, doctor (1515-1582), entered the Carmelites in Avila and became disenchanted with the laxity of the order. She progressed in prayer and had mystical visions. She introduced stricter reforms through her guidance of John of the Cross and Peter Alcantara. They founded the Discalced Carmelites for men and women.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• October 9, 1627. Jansenius left Louvain for Salamanca to foment antipathy against the Jesuits and thus prevent Philip IV from giving the Society a large college in Madrid. The theological faculty at Salamanca were hostile to the Society. 
• October 10, 1806: The first novitiate of the Maryland Mission opened as ten novices began their Long Retreat under the direction of Fr. Francis Neale (himself a novice who had entered the Jesuits that day.) 
• October 11, 1688: King Louis XIV forbade all correspondence and interchange between the French Jesuits and Fr. Thyrsus Gonzalez, the Spanish General Superior of the Society. 
• October 12, 1976: The murder in rural Brazil of Joao Bosco Burnier, SJ, who was shot and killed by soldiers for protesting the torture of two poor women. 
• October 13, 1537: At Venice the Papal Nuncio published his written verdict declaring that Ignatius Loyola was innocent of all charges which had been leveled against him by his detractors. 
• October 14, 1774: A French Jesuit in China wrote an epitaph to the Jesuit mission in China after the suppression of the Society. It concludes: "Go, traveler, continue on your way. Felicitate the dead; weep for the living; pray for all. Wonder, and be silent."
• October 15, 1582: St Teresa of Avila died on this day -- the first day of the new Gregorian calendar. She always wished to have a Jesuit as a confessor.