Thanksgiving Day TEN LEPERS

THANKSGIVING DAY   TEN LEPERS (Luke)  

You might enjoy today opening the web page of the Wall Street Journal and seeing a review of President Obama’s humorous ways over the years of following the tradition of granting a turkey a pardon on this holiday.   The video shows the ten favorite turkey day clemency jokes.   For example just as the president is called POTUS, he refers to one forgiven turkey as TOTUS.   In another pardon ceremony the turkey has the name Popcorn.  This, President Barack Obama says, just proves that somebody with a silly name can make it to the White House.

So much for that.  Let’s move from turkeys to lepers.   I have an artistic representation of the miracle of the ten lepers which focuses on the attitudes that surround the miracle itself.  Here we see the ten lepers sticking together by necessity in the outskirts of some town.   We see them pleading with Jesus for help.  Material assistance may be their typical request but the intensity of their petition seems to indicate their knowledge of Jesus’ healing gifts.   At this moment Jesus is approaching them but his disciples hang back illustrating that they share their culture’s fear of associating with lepers…..

 “The Jesuit is called to travel –as Ignatius says—and make our life in whatever part of the world there is hope of greater service to God and help of souls.”

In our image we see the disciples traveling with the Lord but their traditions and customs are obstacles on the way prompting them to hold back.   Pope Francis says this (to us Jesuits) about the process of traveling: “Being on the road for Ignatius is more than just setting off and moving alone.   It indicates a state of being.  It’s all about drawing profit, progress, moving forward, doing things for others’ benefit."

In our image Jesus’ willingness to move closer to the lepers models this as the first step in the process of being of service to them.  In this image the only positive note of the disciples holding back is that they are sticking together and trying to understand.  Their isolation and their togetherness is in some sense a mirror image of the lepers.  In the process of healing the lepers Jesus is beginning also a process of healing the disciples of their fear of the unknown……

Let us even if we are reluctant like the disciples to participate in this scene pray for the spirit of joy and consolation that the lepers surely experienced.  And for that sense of gratitude that Jesus here and elsewhere names: “I thank thee, Father, that you have revealed to these little ones the mystery of your Kingdom.”……

And also ask for the attitude of the leper who returns to give thanks.