Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Gospel Lk: 17, 11 – 19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
Too often we pray to God for all sorts of things and when our prayers are answered, like the nine lepers in today’s Gospel (Luke 17:11-19), we forget to give Him thanks.
In today’s Gospel, it is a Samaritan, a person who is not a Jew, who returns to thank Jesus for healing him. All we have is “gift” from God for which we should be thankful.
Gospel: Lk 17: 5 – 10
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
As we come to the close of this year’s Respect For Life Week (RFLW) on Sunday, October 3, I urge you all to join people from various faith communities as we walk and pray around part of Queen’s Park Savannah – from Casuals Corner (near the American Embassy) to St Ann’s Roundabout from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. this Sunday. Some of you may prefer to gather in the Savannah at St Ann’s Roundabout and wait for us there. We will also be praying there at the end of the procession. The Youth Commission’s steel band will play for us also.
Address by His Excellency Senator Timothy Hamel-Smith Ag. President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at the IRO National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving and the Catholic Church “Respect for Life Week” Event, on Sunday 26th September, 2010, at the Raja Yoga Centre Headquarters.
I am pleased to join with the Inter Religious Organization in this national day of prayer and thanksgiving, which it has been organizing for several years, in the season that celebrates our Republican status.