Homily for the Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C,

By Franklin Fong, OFM

This weekend’s readings are all centered on gratitude:  

Describing it, • Perseverance; • why it is a choice.

In the first reading from Kings, we hear of how Naaman, a foreigner who has leprosy, comes to Elisha for healing. Naaman follows the instructions and bathes himself in the murky waters of the Jordan. Miracles of miracles - he is cured and his skin is like a baby ! Naaman offers Elisha a gift in thanksgiving, which is refused. Then Naaman asks for two loads of soil to take back with him to his homeland. The belief is that the God of Israel is associated with the soil of Israel. So Naaman wants enough soil to build an altar on top of it to worship the God of Israel.  

The reflection question from this reading is to ask ourselves, how have we experienced healing in our lives? How have we shown our thankfulness to God for having intervened in our lives?  

In the second reading, we hear of St Paul’s advice – from a prison, to Timothy. Paul draws the beautiful analogy that though he maybe in chains for the Gospel, the word of God is not chained ! The word of God brings freedom – salvation in Jesus Christ. And so, it is worth it to bear these chains so that others may not be deprived of salvation. So this is about trusting in God, and persevering in the midst of suffering for proclaiming the gospel to the world. So the main point here is about remembering that Jesus is the point of our leadership. Remembering and persevering then leads us always to thanksgiving!

In the Gospel reading, we hear about gratitude and how yes, there might be those who have no gratitude. In the parable of ten lepers who are healed by Jesus, we hear of how Jesus sends them back to their communities and their priests who will declare the former lepers as now clean and free of the disease. There is one healed leper who is a Samaritan, who is not of the Judaic tradition, and so had no reason to go look for a priest. Instead, this Samaritan returns to Jesus and thanked him for the healing. He models for us that to be so grateful that we too must go back to Jesus, who is the source of healing and blessing. Most of all he models for us that gratitude must be spontaneous and not prescribed as to when or how !  

Notice that Jesus did not begrudge the 9 who did not thank him. No punishment was meted out to them. Just a question. The original meaning of healing was about being returned to community life. The more important point of this parable is that Jesus heals the stranger to the Judaic culture as freely as the others -- Jesus models for us that there is no Jew nor Greek to separate those who have faith.

Maybe the lesson here is more about the fact that gratitude is a choice we can make in our lives. Gratefulness is a personal character trait which is cultivated as part of our personalities by certain habits practiced over time. These habits of gratitude, sharing your resources of time, talent or treasures in different ways and different times and situations is something we learn from the time we were children. It begins in childhood but continues for our entire earthly lives !

It has been pointed out that very young children have to learn gratitude. To learn how to say thank you. In the gospel story it is the nine adult lepers who did not return to show their gratitude in any fashion! They were like the young child who simply accepts the gift and walks away without saying a word.  

And so, we now see the complete picture and spiritual lessons about gratitude in these three readings.  

The first point is to first understand it is about making the special effort to express your appreciation and to give thanks to God for these gifts and graces we have received.

The second point is that it is a privilege to have this connect with God through Jesus preparing the way to salvation for all of us. That privilege may have a real cost to us in suffering in some fashion. But, that we accept this suffering and we persevere despite this pain – chains – trusting in God’s vision for our world.  

And the final point is that we have to learn about and cultivate our sense of gratitude over our entire lives. It is not about a onetime act, but a lifetime of deepening our way of living one’s life.

Take some time in the coming week to reflect on your journey of gratitude for your faith in recent years. Can you now name the ways you have shared 

your time based on your faith?

Your talents based on your faith?

Your thoughts on your faith journey?

And your treasures based on your faith?

Remember, Faith is finding answers in the Head, Heart AND Hands.   

So, Ask yourself how have you expressed gratitude in your head, your heart and your hands in this past year?

Brothers and sisters of the Chinese Catholic Community

this is the good news for this 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Alleluia Alleluia

Fr. Fong

(中文翻譯.原文以英文為準.)

常年期第二十八主日(丙年)的講道

本週末的讀經都以感恩為中心:
• 描述它, • 堅持; • 為什麼選擇它。

在讀經一的列王紀中,我們聽到了患有痳瘋病的外邦人納阿曼如何來到厄里叟處尋求醫治。納阿曼遵照指示,在約旦河的渾水中沐浴。奇蹟中的奇蹟——他痊癒了,他的皮膚像嬰兒一樣!納阿曼送給厄里叟一份感恩的禮物,但被拒絕了。然後納阿曼要了兩擔泥土帶回他的家鄉。人們相信以色列的天主與以色列的土地有關。所以納阿曼想要足夠的泥土好能在上面築一座祭壇來敬拜以色列的天主。

這個讀經的反思問題是問自己,我們在生活中經歷了怎樣的治愈?我們如何感謝天主介入我們的生活?

在讀經二中,我們聽到了聖保祿的勸喻 —— 從監獄中,給弟茂德。保祿做了一個漂亮的類比,雖然他可能為福音被鏈鎖,但天主的話語並沒有被鏈鎖!神的話帶來自由 —— 在耶穌基督裡的救恩。因此,背負這些鎖鍊是值得的,這樣其他人就不會被剝奪救恩。所以這是關於信靠天主,並在苦難中堅持不懈地向世界宣講福音。所以這裡的重點是要記住耶穌
是我們領導的重點。記住和堅持就會讓我們永遠感恩!

在福音書讀經中,我們聽到了感恩,以及如何是的,可能有些人沒有感恩。在十個被耶穌治癒的痳瘋病人的比喻中,我們聽到耶穌如何將他們送回他們的社區和他們的司祭,他們將宣布以前的痳瘋病人現在已經潔淨,沒有疾病了。有一個被治癒的痳瘋病人是撒瑪黎雅人,他不屬於猶太傳統,因此沒有理由去找司祭。相反,這個撒瑪黎雅人回到耶穌身邊, 感謝他的醫治。他為我們樹立了榜樣,要如此感恩,我們也必須回到耶穌那裡,耶穌是醫治和祝福的源頭。最重要的是,他為我們樹立了感恩的榜樣,感恩必須是自發的,而不是規定何時或如何!

請注意,耶穌並沒有怨恨那些不感謝他的9個人。他們沒有受到任何懲罰。就一個問題。療癒的本義是回歸社區生活。這個比喻更重要的一點是,耶穌像其他人一樣自由地治癒了猶太文化以外的陌生人 —— 耶穌為我們樹立了榜樣,沒有猶太人或希臘人去將那些有信仰的人分隔。

也許這裡的教訓更多地是關於感恩是我們在生活中可以做出的選擇這一事實。感恩是一種個人性格特徵,隨著時間的推移,某些習慣會培養成我們性格的一部分。這些感恩的習慣,以不同的方式和不同的時間和情況,分享你的時間、才能或財富資源,是我們從小就學到的東西。它從童年開始,但持續到我們整個在世的生活!

有人指出,很小的孩子必須學會感恩。學習如何說謝謝。在福音故事中,九個成年痳瘋病人沒有回來以任何方式表達他們的感激之情!他們就像年幼的孩子,接受了禮物,一言不發地走開了。

因此,我們現在在這三個讀經中看到了關於感恩的完整畫面和靈性課程。

第一點是首先要了解這是為了表達你的感激之情,並為我們收到的這些禮物和恩典感謝天主。

第二點是,通過耶穌為我們所有人準備通向救恩的道路,與天主建立這種聯繫是一種特權。這種特權可能會以某種方式讓我們付出真正的代價。但是,我們接受這種痛苦,儘管有這種痛苦 —— 鎖鏈 —— 我們仍然堅持下去,相信天主對我們世界的願景。

最後一點是,我們必須在整個生命中學習和培養我們的感激之情。這不是一次性的行為,而是一生深化我們的生活方式。

在接下來的一周裡花一些時間來反思你近年來對信仰的感激之情。你現在能說出你分享的方式嗎?
是你基於你的信仰的時間嗎?
是你基於你的信仰的才能嗎?
是你對信仰之旅的看法嗎?
是你基於你的信仰的財寶嗎?
請記住,信仰是在頭腦、心靈和手中尋找答案。

那麼,問問自己,在過去的一年裡,你是如何在你的頭腦、你的心和你的手上表達感激之情的?

華人天主教團體的弟兄姊妹這是常年期第 28 個主日的好消息。

阿肋路亞 阿肋路亞