Prayers: Please keep the Belleque family in your prayers. Johanna’s mom died Friday, October 1st in Koliganek, Alaska.
Gospel: The gospel is about getting second chances in our lives. Please see readings and homily below.
Anchorage Visit: I will be going to Anchorage this Tuesday through Thursday to participate in the pastoral day (learn about the New Missal) and to train in the canon law tribunal.
Thank you: Thank you to Katelyn Swaim (daughter of Michael and Diana) for making and coloring the North Star for the Christmas Eve Homily. At that time the children will be helping put together a Nativity puzzle.
Gray Water Problem: We are still waiting for the metal to arrive on the barge so Osborn tanks can make the 1000 gallon tank for our Gray water drainage. We plan to make the tank with holes in it and Jackson McCormick is going to make a drain system for the tank.
Have a blessed week and see you Sunday...Fr. Scott
HOMILY
28 Ord C DLG 2010, Metanoia, 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19
In the gospel, the story of the one leper who returned is about second chances. If it is God’s will that you be cured you get a second chance.
Second chances in life are numerous. We are always getting second chances. I have had so many second chances I have lost track of them all.
The second chances that counted most to me were the second chances at life. I could have died several times in my life but was given a second chance.
When I was about seven years old, I almost drowned in a swimming pool. I got in over my head and couldn’t swim. An old lady about 79 years old, saw me struggling for air, waded over to me, and pulled me out.
A couple years later, after I learned how swim, I was swimming in the river…my dad’s Labrador Spike wanted to play. He swam out to me and started jumping on top of me.
Driving from Anchorage to Fairbanks I rolled my friends Jeep near Nenana. We hit a snowdrift. We rolled four times and landed upside down. It was 40 below zero outside. I got a second chance.
We have all dealt with life and death. The lepers were in that same situation…they were all cured…they all had a second chance at life.
What become important to them after they were cured? Starting a new life believing in Christ or The lepers could have started a whole new life believing in Christ, or getting back to the life the way it was.
Ultimately, the story of the leper is about seizing or not seizing second chances. How do you react when you have a scare in life? How do you react when it turns out OK? Getting a second chance to nine of the lepers meant going back to the same old way of life. Sure, they were happy at first. Sure they were grateful for a little while…but how soon they forgot.
Only one came back to show his gratitude. Only the Samaritan came back. Only the Samaritan wanted to start a new and better life following Jesus. Only the one Samaritan leper seized the second chance.
The second chance for the Leper launched a new insight…a deep praise for God…a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus will sustain this grateful man for the rest of his life.
In the first reading from Kings, God gave Naaman a second chance. It changed his life.
After being cleaned of leprosy, Naaman said to the prophet Elisha, “I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.”
For you and I, second chances don’t have to come from life and death situations.
We may get a second chance to repair a hurt relationship. We might get a second chance to give back something we took that was not ours. We may get a second chance to tell the truth to someone we lied to. Take that that second chance.
Like the one leper, when we take that second chance we experience Metanoia. Metanoia is a Greek word meaning: conversion and the continual life of inner change and growth. The next time you get a second chance…seize it. Experience Metanoia. Grow closer to Jesus because of it, be grateful to God for it, and enliven the Holy Spirit to help you (561 Words).
2 Kings 5:14-17 - So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant." "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it," Elisha replied; and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused. Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD.
2 Timothy 2:8-13 - Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
Luke 17:11-19 - As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
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