October 9, 2022 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our Gospel passage, nine lepers come to Jesus desperately longing to be healed that they may no longer be isolated from family, friends, and society in general. How freeing, hope-filled, and joyful their healing must have been for them. Yet, only one of the nine lepers returned to say “thank you” for receiving such a life-changing gift from Jesus. This story reminds us of the importance of having an attitude of gratitude for all that a loving God has given as we make our journey of life. So, how about spending some good time with God this week asking God to remind you of some of the beautiful moments in your life? Then just sit quietly with God and have a joy-filled, fun time remembering them. Why not do that once every week? In so doing, you are thanking God for what God has given and continues to give to you. In such remembering, we naturally are more aware of and deeply thankful for what God has given. Our prayer then becomes a very simple but profound one of just thanking God for being God! Fr. John Mark Ettensohn, OMI (Homily given by Fr. Jack Lau, OMI)