Trinity 14 – Metanoia and Gratitude

Fr Jean Celestin Ngoma

 

Galatians 5:16-24       St Luke 17:11-19

 

Lord, have mercy on us (Kyrie Eleison)

 

As we continue our journey of ascension toward the fullness of life in Christ during this Trinity season, we contemplate the illumination of our souls, the recovery of our inner selves, and our understanding of the truth of God’s words. Today, we are reminded of our spiritual leprosy, echoing our sin and ungratefulness.

Today’s Epistle and the Gospel provide both insight into those who benefit from divine illumination and the contexts in which they can experience Jesus' healing. Those who have been baptised and have accepted Jesus as their Master and Lord, but still struggle with disordered passions within their souls, are most likely the primary recipients of today’s message of life.

The contract to draw up this week with our Lord Jesus will be based on that in-between stage where we recognise that we are mature covenanted people; we are saved by the blood of the Lamb and are no longer slaves to sin, yet we still face the temptation to sin. This in-between phase resonates with St. Paul’s struggles with sin. As he wrote in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals the leper in a no-man's land on the border of Galilee and Samaria. We are familiar with this story: the Israelites and Samaritans were not on good terms. The leaders of both communities agreed to exile their people suffering from leprosy to an in-between place. When it comes to mistreating the weak members of their societies, the leaders of both communities compromised and struck a deal.

It is in this transitional in-between space that Jesus meets the ten lepers, who are seen as both religiously and physically impure. The lepers recognise their status, their woundedness, and their need for holistic healing from our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Likewise, Jesus meets us in our transitional periods of life, in moments of infirmity and indecision, when we fail to love as we should, in moments when we struggle with fellowship, and in times when sins attempt to corrupt our souls and make us prefer worldly desires to heavenly values. In these times, we trust Jesus as the one who can restore us and guide us along the way.

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One of the transitional periods that shaped the faith and hope of the Israelites, as well as their collective experience of being loved sinners in need of divine restoration and healing, was the Babylonian tragedy.

It was equally the time when the people of God had compromised and become ungrateful to Him.

The  Babylonian experience can be divided into four episodes.

In episode 1,  we contemplate the prophets' warnings about the people's lack of faith and ingratitude towards God. They cautioned about threats from Egypt and Babylon, which sought to dominate the region, including Israel. This reflects current concerns, as EU politicians warn about potential threats from Russia, while some influencers suggest Europe risks becoming merely a museum.

In episode 2, we contemplate the sin of idolatry, the questionable alliances formed out of ungratefulness, and the compromises made for the sake of preserving peace and tranquillity. The elite pressured the people to compromise, leading them to become contaminated by the pagan cults of the dominant civilisations.

It was a tragic period marked by apostasy and idolatry, prompting the prophet Jeremiah to urge the people to open their eyes. He warned them not to change their lifestyle or break the covenant they had made with the God of their ancestors at Sinai ( cf. Olivier Belleli).

During this period, they began to lose their unique identity as the chosen people and became stagnant in their faith. It was a period of spiritual decay and general blindness as they adopted the customs and religions of surrounding nations, even intermarrying with non-believers.

In episode 3, we contemplate the people's persistent sin and subsequent downfall. The fate of Jerusalem and its sacred sanctuary is sealed. The Babylonian armies ultimately conquered the kingdom of Judah in two successive campaigns in 597 and 587 BC. 2 Chronicles 36:19-21 recounts the destruction of the temple and the fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy. This serves as a solemn reminder of what can happen to a civilisation or a people that no longer relies on God.

In episode 4, we contemplate the attitudes of God’s people in Israel during their exile.

Some of the Israelite elites placed their trust in the false prophets and influencers of their time. These influencers fed fantasies that aligned perfectly with the desires of the people. Their oracles even predicted the quick return of the exiles and the sacred temple objects.

Some disheartened Israelite elites openly claimed that the Lord had abandoned them. They believed this was the main reason for their downfall, which led to their deportation. However, they did not seriously consider the true cause of their misfortunes. The main causes of the Babylonian tragedy, which led the Israelites to somehow miss the Lord's visitation and illumination, were their spiritual insensitivity, lack of humility, and unwillingness to be enlightened by God's messages. This resulted in compromise and ingratitude.

Instead, they found it easier to blame God for abandoning them. They could not envision returning to their former lives without addressing the critical questions of self-examination and conversion: Metanoia (changing one's mind)!  God’s people fail to repent and engage in self-examination.  This situation is akin to people who combat climate change without tackling the root causes of global warming or even consciously or unconsciously working against the very cause of their fight by flying every month to attend conferences around the world.

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Master, have mercy on us: The lepers asked Jesus for mercy, not specifically to be cured of their leprosy. They simply said, "Have mercy on us." This underscores the holistic healing, which Jesus brings to our souls, which begins with returning to the Lord and asking for His mercy: "Kyrie eleison" "Lord, have mercy on me," a phrase we repeat several times during our church services.

“Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” As it has been said, gratitude doesn't belong in this world. Ingratitude has been present since the beginning of creation. The book of Genesis recounts the story of the serpent, who planted the seed of ingratitude and dissatisfaction in human hearts. Adam and Eve's disobedience is echoed in our ingratitude and dissatisfaction with the richness that the Lord has bestowed upon us.

Ingratitude, forgetting the graces, benefits, and blessings we have received from God, is one of the most abominable of all sins and is detested by the Creator, according to Saint Ignatius. Following this statement, Saint Ignatius places ingratitude at the centre of the world's evil.

In our family lives, when we take the diverse gifts from God and our partners for granted, when we neglect the richness and beauty of our relationships, we run the risk of adopting the attitude of the primordial serpent, harming our shared divine bonds of unity and love.

Just as the leper returned to Jesus, the source of his healing, gratitude compels us to reconnect with the foundational realities of our relationships, allowing them to flourish. This reconnection restores our proper relationship with our Creator and can also heal us from anxieties.

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Like the lepers who went to Jesus, saying "Kyrie Eleison" (Lord, have mercy on us). We actually expected them to ask to be healed from something which was physically visible, their leprosy,  and say:  God heal our physical, social, and psychological troubles caused by the society which is supposed to take care of us. But they came to Jesus seeking to be healed from what was unseen and asked for wisdom, mercy, God’s love and grace, they were sufficient for them.

We, too, can present our spiritual struggles, both the invisible ones and those we are aware of, and ask the Lord for comprehensive healing.

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The Church celebrates the life and witness of Saint Matthew today. The two names, Levi and Matthew, associated with the apostle Matthew, suggest that he underwent a period of transformation and illumination, and at some point in his life, saying: Kyrie Eleison.   In Hebrew, Matthew means “gift of Yahweh.” The good Lord did not want his profession as a tax collector to become a kind of spiritual leprosy that would stain the heavenly meaning of his name.

Let us echo our Kyrie Eleison, our inner cry for God’s healing, directing our prayers to Jesus, who works quietly in our souls through the Holy Spirit.

Together let us silently utter the words that begin the divine healing, our Lord in our mind and body:  Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy on me, the words that shape our collective experience of being loved sinners in need of divine restoration and healing.

Join me in praying the Suscipe, the Radical Prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Join me and let us deepen our gratitude and love for a good and generous God by expanding our appreciation for the abundant blessings we have received during this week.  This week,  I want to respond to God’s generous gift of Jesus and the myriad of blessings He has bestowed upon me.

I want to contemplate and be moved by gratitude and give back to God what belongs to Him, by repeating this prayer:

"Take, Lord, and receive

all my liberty,

my memory,

my understanding,

and my entire will,

all that I have and possess. You have given all to me.

To You, O Lord, I return it.

All is Yours; dispose of it wholly according to Your will.

Give me Your love and Your grace,

for this is enough for me."

( cf. St Ignace of Loyola).

 

Amen +