The Feast of St Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church.

"As Jesus 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.” (Luke 17: 11... 19).

Wednesday 10th November 2021, 32nd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of a giant of our faith: St Leo the Great. (+ 461). Pope. Italian. Doctor of the Church.
Leo was from a Roman aristocratic family. He was the first of three popes in the history of the Church to be called "the Great."

Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in Church history." Leo is remembered in history for many things. Here are the two things that stand out for me:
#1 Leo put his stamp on the authoritative definition of who Jesus Christ is: Jesus Christ is true God (100%) and true Man (100%).
#2 The mighty Roman Empire was collapsing right and left during the pontificate of Pope Leo. Leo persuaded Attila the Hun to turn back from the gates of Rome and Rome was spared destruction.

The Gospel of today deals with the cleansing of Ten Lepers. “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” The Ten were all healed on their way to the priest.
"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."

Why did the other nine not come back to give thanks to God? Every parent teaches their young ones to always give thanks for gifts they receive or favors done to them. "Junior, have you said 'thank you"? You hammer this lesson in until it is learned. Why then do adults forget this lesson as they grow older?

The Scripture teaches us to give thanks to God always and for everything. When this sacred and simple injunction is not obeyed, it is a symptom of deep spiritual malaise: The offender has not realized that all the good things he enjoys in life come from God alone. There is no such thing as luck or chance in life. "T'is not from chance comes our blessings but from Your gracious ordaining O Lord our God." (Cf 2 Corinthians 1: 3 - 4).

The Eucharist is God’s greatest gift to us. Eucharist means Thanksgiving to remind us to give thanks always for this tremendous gift.

"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.”

"Believe in My promises, and go forward full of thanksgiving and hope. I will teach you all that you need to know as you go forward. I will not give you My words ahead of time, but I will give them to you as you need them, at the moment chosen by My loving providence. Renounce the desire to control and arrange things ahead of the time that I have decreed. Each thing has its own moment, and that moment alone and no other brings with it the grace sufficient to your need, to your weakness, and to the task at hand. I am proceeding this way with you because I want you to trust Me completely, to trust Me in all things, great and small."  (Thursday, July 10, 2008).

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com