By Maria Johnson

 

Untitled by Mabel Amber via Pixabay. CC0 Creative Commons

 

“Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

 The lepers in today’s Gospel reveal something about me and what I aspire to be.

 Although Jesus healed 10 lepers, only one returned to thank him. I am moved to contrition when I think of all the times the Lord has blessed me with Grace or answered prayers, and I accept it without thanks, perhaps not intentionally in a feeling of entitlement, but self-absorption all the same.

 The last leper, the Samaritan, was culturally the least likely to receive such a gift of healing, and yet, he was the first to proclaim the Lord’s mercy.

 The leper not only received the gift of healing, but he recognized and acknowledged the source as the Lord Jesus Christ.

 I am heartened by his example to praise the Lord in all things, and especially, to live my faith with a grateful heart.

 

About the author:

Maria Morera Johnson, author of My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live, and Super Girls and Halos: My Companions on the Quest for Truth, Justice, and Heroic Virtue, loves writing and speaking about her faith.