WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

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Glory forever. Today's Gospel reading from Luke

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tells us about a group of ten lepers. They met

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Jesus as he entered a certain village, and they

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called out to him from a distance, since as lepers

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they could not come close. They could not enter

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the town, and so they met him where they could.

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As they came close to him, they spoke. They said,

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Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They called

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out to him. They had this disease, this skin

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disease, and they didn't know what else to do

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or where else to go. with this flash of wisdom,

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they came to the Lord. For they had heard of

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what had happened, how others had been healed,

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how there was hope for them, that perhaps they

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too could get past this disease, this physical

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manifestation of sin, this thing that kept them

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away from Jewish society and isolated from fellowship

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with people. So these ten, they came to the Lord

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Jesus and they said the words, Jesus, Master,

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have mercy on us. He had healed others, perhaps

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he would heal them. And Jesus heard their plea

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and he had mercy on them. And he said to them,

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go show yourselves to the priests. For though

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he had already determined to heal all of them,

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they needed to be declared clean by the priests

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so that they could reenter into Jewish society.

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And they did as he said, and all ten were healed.

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And yet only one of those ten returned to give

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thanks to Christ, to the Lord. And he was a Samaritan.

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And Jesus said, were not ten cleansed, but where

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are the nine? Were there not any found who returned

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to give glory to God except this foreigner? And

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he said to him, arise, go your way, your faith

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has made you well. All ten received physical

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healing, but the nine missed out on a much greater

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healing. greater blessing that of being thankful

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their heart didn't have the blessing of joy that

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comes when we thank god saint theophon has said

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for what is prayer prayer is the raising of the

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mind and the heart to god for praise and thanksgiving

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and beseeching him for the good things necessary

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for soul and body so that true prayer will contain

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more than just a request it will have thanksgiving

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for what god has given us and for what he will

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give us when we truly trust in the lord and just

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like the one leper we need to come to jesus for

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healing and then with a heart of thanksgiving

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Walk away. Walk into life with that heart full

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of love for others because we have loved the

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Lord and thanked him. What about us? What about

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our lives? We know what our Lord and God and

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Savior Jesus Christ has done for us. He has healed

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us from spiritual leprosy. He has given us forgiveness

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of sins. He has provided a way of salvation for

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us so that when we, like the ten lepers, cry

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out to him, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,

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we are asking him to heal us of this spiritual

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leprosy and to forgive our sins and to restore

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us to a right relationship with God. St. Gregory

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the Theologian says of Christ Jesus our Lord,

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the worse that we might receive the better. He

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became poor that by his poverty we might become

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rich. He accepted the form of a servant that

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we might win back our freedom. He came down that

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we might be lifted up. He was tempted that through

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him we might conquer. He was dishonored that

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we might be glorified. He died that he might

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save us. He ascended that he might draw us who

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were thrown down through the fall of sin to himself.

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The Lord has had mercy on us. And now we have

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that choice. Will we be like the one? Or will

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we be like the nine? The one was thankful and

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filled with gratitude and thus experienced the

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joy of that thankful heart. A bad place to be

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is with an ungrateful heart, for the fruits of

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ingratitude are a complaining spirit, depression,

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anger, possibly envy, and all these vices. But

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if we find ourselves with an ungrateful heart,

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do not give up hope. because God can turn it

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around for us. All we need to do to help make

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these vices into virtues is to turn to God and

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say, Thank you, Lord, fill in the blank. Thank

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you, the Lord, for whatever you can thank him

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for. And keep thinking of things that you are

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thankful for. And keep thanking the Lord, and

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that ungrateful heart will change. Why will it

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change? Because we will have taken our eyes off

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of ourselves and we will have placed our eyes

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upon God. And when our eyes are upon the Lord,

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how could we not be thankful? How could we not

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realize what he's done for us? Jesus, Master,

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have mercy on us. Thank you, Lord, for making

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a way for our salvation. O Lord, continue to

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sanctify us and prepare us for the kingdom of

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heaven. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to heaven.