Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time C.  October 14, 2007.  Our Lady of Grace, all Masses.  2 Kings 5: 14-17  . 2 Timothy 2: 8-13.  Luke 17:  11-19.

Jesus said, “Is there no one who returned to give thanks to God but this foreigner?  Where are the other nine?”   Jesus was amazed that nine members of the People of God – good and believing people who had been cured of the dread and ugly disease of Leprosy – went on with their newly healed lives without even coming back to Jesus to give thanks to God.   Jesus said to the religious outsider, “Get off of your knees and stand up straight.  Your faith has saved you.”   The outsider knew that his health was a gift. He alone had the good sense to return and give thanks to God.

National Geographic has produced a DVD dealing with the miracle of conception and birth.  As I watched a child develop from the first moment of human life until birth I was amazed at how the little one struggled to grow and develop.  I found myself asking how I was smart enough to pull the whole thing off.  Life in the womb is a miracle.  The birth of a child is a miracle.  Our very existence and the existence of our planet and the universe is a miracle. Some of us have had serious, life threatening diseases like Leprosy – I have not.  Yet the very fact that we are here, hearts beating, minds and souls working, surrounded by family and friends is a miracle and a great gift from God.

Today’s bulletin contains an article by Tony Snow, President Bush’s press secretary who recently resigned because he is struggling with cancer.  It is obvious that Tony Snow belongs to a faith community that has helped him deal with his journey into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Tony says, “Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen.  We are imperfect.  Our bodies give out.  But despite this - or because of it - God offers the possibility of salvation and grace.  We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our creator face to face.”  Without the community of faith that we often take for granted, how would any of us face the challenges, difficulties and sorrows of life?

The faith community of Our Lady of Grace is a great monument to the goodness of God.  The people who worship here and the ministries and buildings we have created are a beacon of hope and a pillar of strength to each of us on the journey of life.  Here, in this place, we have become a great and awesome shrine and a  hymn of praise and thanksgiving that resounds loudly for all to see and hear. This Sunday we celebrate who we are as the people and parish of Our Lady of Grace.  Let us be glad and rejoice.

Please watch and listen as the people of Our Lady of Grace tell our story.

(After the DVD)

For the wonder, the miracle, and the gift of this grace-filled parish community we give god thanks and praise.