Taking God for granted!?!
Ti 3:1-7; Lk 17:11-19
Speaking on the eve of his 97th birthday, one of our elderly Salesian priests here said the other day, "you will not understand the difficulty of living this old...everything, every little thing is difficult. Even putting on a shirt or a pant is such an herculean task. With the missing balance, even using a toilet or washing the face is such a problematic affair!" As he went on, I really felt so guilty for the number of things I have been taking for granted on a daily basis!
We have today a typical event in the Gospel where there are the majority who take things for granted, but that one spiritually sensitive person who returns to the Lord to tell him, that it really made a difference what the Lord had done to him. This quality of not taking God for granted has to come from, not taking people around me for granted. That is what the first reading tells me. If the latter does not happen, the former will only be an external show, an hypocrisy. Let us recognise persons, accept persons, appreciate them and affirm their presence, thank God for them, and take care of them. We need to be not only sheep of the Divine Shepherd, but also His hands and legs in reaching out to the needy. However, it is easy and pleasant to proclaim that the Lord is my shepherd, but to recognise it truly in concrete terms and submit to the shepherding of the Lord, it is not an easy task.