Today,
once again, we may substantiate how our attitude of faith may stir up
Jesus Christ's heart. The fact is that some lepers, overcoming the
social dislike they all suffered, and quite boldly too, came to meet
Jesus and —we could say in quotation marks— coerced
him with their trustworthy petition: «Jesus, Master, have pity
on us!» (Lk 17:13).
Jesus'
reaction is immediate and sudden: «Go and show yourselves to
the priests» (Lk 17:14). He, who is the Lord,
shows his power, for «as they went their way, they found they
were cured» (Lk 17:14).
This attests that the
measure of Christ's miracles is, precisely, the measure of our faith
and confidence in God. What else are we to do —poor creatures—
in front of God, but trust him? But with an operative faith, that
forces us to abide by God's wishes. A minimum of common sense will
suffice to understand that «nothing is too difficult to believe
in if referring to He, whom nothing is too difficult for»
(Cardinal J. H. Newman). If do not see more miracles is because we do
not really “obligate” our Lord, lacking confidence and
obedience to him. As St. John Crysostom said, «little faith can
achieve a lot».
And,
a flood of joy and gratitude crowned that faith in God when, «one
of them, as soon as he saw he was cleansed, turned back praising God
in a loud voice, and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he
gave him thanks» (Lk 17:15-16).
But...,
what a shame! Out of ten benefiting from that great miracle, only one
came back. How ungrateful are we when we so easily forget that all we
have comes from God and that we owe everything to him! Let us resolve
to oblige him from now on while demonstrating our
gratitude and faith in him.
