“How can they NOT believe?” by Karen Dziekonska, Fiat Ventures
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
After graduating college, I spent a year volunteering at an all-girls orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. My main role at the orphanage was to be a mother figure to the 50 girls that lived there. Once my Spanish got a little better, the religious Sisters that I lived with asked me and another volunteer to teach a catechism class to a group of middle school girls. We were excited to do it, but without being given a list of topics to teach, we were on our own to come up with lesson plans and activities.
The first couple of weeks, we went back to the basics and talked about what it means to be a Christian, how to be a good friend and a role model and leader to the younger girls at the orphanage. The girls were learning and enjoyed our time together, but they didn’t seem too interested and rarely asked questions. I was a little disheartened, because I wanted to see a spark in them of being passionate about our faith.
It wasn’t until a few weeks in when we were talking about a Gospel reading of a miracle of Jesus that I saw something stirring in their minds, and their hearts. They were amazed at the number of miracles in the Bible and wanted to learn more. Finally, that spark of curiosity and wonder that I was looking for! After that, we focused our lessons on miracles, both spiritual and physical. After covering the Bible, we went into the lives of Saints and their miracles, and lastly Eucharistic miracles. This really caught their attention. After explaining the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, Italy one of the girls raised her hand and angary asked “I don’t understand, how do people NOT believe in God?!”
This question came to mind when reading this week’s Gospel. On his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus was met by ten lepers. When he sent them to show themselves to the priests, that they were cleansed, only one came back to glorify God. But what about the other nine, how did they not realize that their healing came from God? How do they still not believe?
So often we are blind to the goodness that God puts into our lives. We often pray when things aren’t going well in our lives, but when things seem stable we fail to acknowledge that God has a hand in that too. The Samaritan that came back to Jesus, who was a foreigner to the Jewish people, wasn’t only healed of his physical illness, but he also came to see Jesus in a new light. He shows us that God’s love, mercy, and salvation is open to all who will call upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
This reading is calling us to open our eyes to the goodness that God brings us, to be like the Samaritan and glorify God for all He does for us. We are surrounded by little miracles; let’s strive to be aware of them and thank God for them. Let’s share them with others and do our part in helping others believe.