Respect Life Month: Inclusion Awareness

Respect Life Month: Inclusion Awareness

Respect Life Month invites us to meditate on the dignity of life. The second weekend of October marks the celebration of Inclusion Awareness Day. We celebrate life with our abilities and disAbilities, our strengths and weaknesses. We are one family. Because we often like to see ourselves as young, healthy, and wealthy, we sometimes forget to appreciate the rest of the community. Inclusion Awareness Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on how we include everyone in the community by looking at our abilities, rather than focusing on disabilities, and how we appreciate the gifts of everyone. In other words, how we celebrate our differences. This weekend’s reading invites us to “do something beautiful for God” by reaching out to others.

Last weekend, we reflected on Faith. Jesus told his disciples, "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.” Luke 17:6. Today, the reading invites us to reflect on faith and gratitude. Luke 17:11-19 recounts an incident that highlights the faith and thankfulness of the cleansed Samaritan leper. This incident is only in Luke’s gospel. Those who suffered from leprosy were outcasts. They were considered ritually unclean and believed they be contagious. Leviticus chapter 13 explains what to do if someone has an infectious disease. Leviticus 13:45 says, “The garments of one afflicted with a scaly infection shall be rent and the hair disheveled, and the  mustache covered. The individual shall cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” The ten lepers stood at a distance and lifted their voice and said, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And his reply was "Go show yourselves to the priests." Leviticus chapter 14 explains the purification after a scaly infection. Leviticus 14:2 says, “This is the ritual for someone that had a scaly infection at the time of that person’s purification. The individual shall be brought to the priest.” So, Jesus asked them to show the priest. The lepers were not cleansed, but they believed and followed his instruction.

Samaritan, a non-Jew, is the one who came to express gratitude and be an example to his Jewish contemporaries. They have so much to be thankful for, because it was more than physical healing that took place there. Because of the leprosy, those ten were separated from their family and community. Jesus healed them so that they could return to their families and communities. Just imagine what a joyful moment that will be. In the Gospel, we see only the Samaritan express that joy and come back to Jesus to express his gratitude. The Gospel says, he came back “Glorifying God in a loud voice” (15). This foreigner was not just cleansed, but he was healed and received salvation.

Jesus’ action recalls the incident in the first reading. Naaman, the foreigner, plunged into the Jordan River seven times and was healed from leprosy at the word of Elisha. When he received healing, he received faith and worshiped the true God. Jesus initiates welcoming the foreigners into God’s covenant family as prophesied in Isaiah 56:3-8, “…And foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, to become his servants…” It is the faith in Jesus manifested by the foreigner that has brought him salvation. In Luke 7:36-50, a sinful woman expressed her pain, and Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

In the second reading, Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, offered up his imprisonment as an intercessory prayer for the faithful. Likewise, we must be willing to suffer for the sake of our faith. Suffering accepted in union with Christ’s cross. Paul used every occasion to proclaim the Gospel, even chains were not an obstacle. The Word of God could not be chained.

Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus touches our lives with his love and mercy. He wants us to receive healing and forgiveness, so we can grow in our faith more deeply and go out to share with others.

Let us pray, Lord, give us the grace to ever grow in faith, never fail to recognize your love and mercy, and glorify your name and proclaim the Gospel. Lord, give us strength to bring others closer to you. Amen.