“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.” — (Luke 17:16)
I tell my students to examine the way they preach. Is it a result of prayer, study, and personal reflection? Is it grounded on understanding the context of their listeners—their joys and hopes, their sorrows and angsts? Does it show a preacher’s love for the Scriptures? Is their preaching filled with passion and conviction? Or does it reflect some insecurity, tentativeness, and hesitation? Would their words compel them and their hearers “to fall at the feet of Jesus to glorify him and give thanks” while continuing to celebrate the Mass?
I tell my students “to put themselves out there with the people” when they preach: to testify to their faith in Jesus Christ; to share the Good News—the finest pearl—that they have found; to use even their emotions in expressing the joy of discovering the Good News.
I tell them that amazing things happen when they bring out their selves entirely to the worship and works of God. Not only would they bring out the effects of God’s graces through their presence, preaching, and celebration of the Sacraments, but they would also become continually and personally healed and integrated as persons in their relationship with God and other people.
I also hear about this healing and saving experience when seminarians come from field education assignments like ministry to the sick in convalescent hospitals or visits to people in jail. They often say, “I find myself also being ministered to as I reach out to these people.”
The lesson in this Sunday’s Gospel is not only gratitude but also the saving power of a full engagement in the life of faith. Often, some people ask why they’re not getting a lot out of their “religion” or the practice of their faith. The question is: are they also giving their hearts and minds fully to the practice of their faith?
We live in a consumeristic society, and we bring into our faith this kind of mentality. We’re in Church to receive but not to give, to be attended to but not to serve, to be passive recipients of the Word and Sacrament rather than to be active receivers. It’s also our full and conscious disposition and participation in the life of the Church that would give us graces of joy, peace, faith and wisdom.
Of the ten lepers that Jesus healed from leprosy, as written in this Sunday’s Gospel, only one person, a Samaritan, came back to Jesus to give thanks to him and glorify him. He fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him, and because of this, he received a greater grace: his faith had saved him.
The Samaritan realized that he needed to engage himself wholly in the person of Jesus Christ. He must come back to him to give him thanks and to glorify him. His grateful heart compelled him to come to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of Christ and his power.
The words of St. Paul in his Letter to Timothy speak of this grace: “If we have died with him we shall live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” St. Paul’s words presuppose an active or engaging faith.
Would not our faith burn inside of us if we fully engage our minds and hearts into our worship of God and His works in the Church and the world?
Can we take the attitude of the Samaritan man in today’s Gospel? Can we throw ourselves completely at the feet of Jesus?
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of ImmAaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
