Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the feast of St. Ambrose of Milan!

In today’s Gospel reading we heard how Christ healed the ten lepers and how one of them, a Samaritan, returned to thank Christ and praise God!

The ten lepers were in a type of quarantine. They were contagious, and therefore the Jewish law forbade them to live amongst the healthy. You can read more about these rules in the 13th and 14th chapters of Leviticus in the Old Testament. It’s interesting to note how the methods of controlling a contagious disease have remained the similar over time. Many of those actions taken in the spring and that are being used even now are similar to what is prescribed in Holy Scripture.

The lepers called to Christ in a loud voice from afar so as not to violate the Law and so as not to pass on the disease to anyone else. The Saviour says nothing about healing them, but instead sends them off to the priests. In the case that someone was healed from leprosy, the Law dictated that a priest was to examine the person for any signs of the disease and, barring any signs of illness, to allow them to return to their former lives. Thus, these suffering people showed a great amount of faith. While still struck by their ailment, they made their way to the priest, having hope that by the time they arrived they would be completely healed and allowed to leave their isolation. We can imagine how these unfortunate people, handicapped and disfigured by sores, were speedily making their way to the priests. Along the way they felt their strength returning and saw their sores and wounds disappear. They rushed even faster and began to think about how they will once again see their wives, children, parents, and friends. Only one of them interrupted his journey to the priest, interrupted his very natural dreams about soon meeting up with his family, and returned to Christ. This time he addresses the Saviour not from a distance, but falls to His feet and loudly glorifies God.

Today the main themes of the Gospel reading are faith and thanksgiving. Our Lord God has sent each of us on a journey. Along our personal spiritual journeys there are various spiritual struggles, different temptations. At first it’s unclear what will happen to us, it’s unknown if these spiritual struggles will bring us any good. We can ask ourselves: do we have strong faith, like the lepers, that at the end of our journey we will find spiritual healing of our sins and of the passions that have disfigured our souls? Do we have the wisdom of the Samaritan leper to see those miracles, those spiritual gifts and healings that God sends us, and to loudly thank and glorify Him? Let’s pray that we acquire flaming faith and sensitivity to recognize God’s power in our lives and to thank Him for His care.

priest Alexis