Gospel Musings...Or Rant?

The Gospel today concerns itself with the ten lepers healed by Jesus of whom only one decided to come back and give thanks.  In one of my Bibles - the Jerusalem, leprosy has been translated as "virulent skin disease".  It drives me nuts, apart from the fact that it is long winded, it also smacks of the usual disbelief we tend to find with adherents of the "Historical Jesus".  Yes, scholars will tell me, many skin diseases thought to be leprosy were not, and Jesus may have healed those.  But can't we just translate the Greek into English without imposing our interpretation on it.  Of course scholars have been doing this since the Reformation.  Martin Luther famously added "alone" to his German translation of Romans 3:28 to back up his own theological opinion. 

Anyway: two reflections on the Gospel.  The first is, of course, the importance of gratitude.  As the great teachers of prayer remind us, when we pray we must first give thanks to God for what he has given us. The charismatics are great for this.  In their meetings they give first place to praise and thanksgiving, and we should learn a lot from them there.  Now, the charismatic movement may not be our cup of tea.  A cousin of my dad went to one meeting years ago and the poor woman was distraught: she ran out of it like a mad woman.  Give her her rosary, a quiet time in adoration and she's grand. Put her in the middle of the charismatics in full flight and she's like a possessed pagan climbing the walls.   Not her thing, nor perhaps yours - but we learn important lessons from their spirituality - praise, thanksgiving and abandonment to the Holy Spirit - something we all need to do. 

Also, while not hugely into the movement myself, I have found the Life in the Spirit seminars to be an excellent spiritual exercise and I would recommend them for all Catholics.  If you do want to do it, find a course with a good priest.  When I was in seminary I attended the course in Dublin - I had to sneak out and back in to go.  If the formation team had found out I would have been sent packing.  Evening in the pub - no problem.  Praying with the charismatics - capital offence.  My priesthood has been blessed by that seminar and I believe the gift of preaching was given to me there.  So to all of you who have had to endure my sermons - take it up with the Holy Spirit.

Second reflection on the Gospel: the selfless ministry of those who serve the sick and outcast.  I think of St Damien of Molokai, a saint one year tomorrow.  He offered his life, literally in his case, for the lepers he served, a martyr of charity.  Today we might pray for all who do the same.