2 Kings 5:14-17 / 2 Tim 2:8-13 / Luke 17:11-19
Whenever we go for a holiday overseas, there is one thing that we would most likely do.
Of course besides taking many photos, we would most likely want to get a souvenir from that place.
So if we were to go to Paris, we would probably get a miniature figure of the Eiffel Tower.
Or if we were to go to New York in the US, we would probably get a miniature figure of the Statue of Liberty.
And if tourists were to get a souvenir from Singapore, what do we think it would be? Would it be a figure of a merlion? Which can be quite strange because unlike the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, the merlion does not exist in reality.
Yet, the merlion symbolizes a reality. The body symbolizes Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, meaning 'sea town' in Old Javanese. Its head represents Singapore's original name, Singapura, or 'lion city' in Malay.
Hence the merlion is a popular souvenir for tourist when they visit Singapore. Besides being a unique symbol of Singapore, it also looks like some mystical creature that has a story to tell.
It is also a meaningful gift to present to visitors from overseas. It would be a uniquely Singaporean souvenir.
In the 1st reading, we heard of Naaman, the commander of the army of Syria, who was cured of his leprosy when he immersed himself seven times in the river Jordan.
Certainly he was overjoyed and he returned to see Elisha to thank him and to present him a gift. But Elisha refused to accept the gift, which was presumably some material reward.
And then Naaman made a rather strange request. He asked Elisha for permission to be given as much earth as two mules may carry.
We may wonder, why earth (or soil)? Why not ask for the waters of the river Jordan, since he had immersed himself in it and was cured of his leprosy?
One reason could be that the earth reminded him of his mortality.
Naaman came to the land of Israel as a leper looking for a cure, and it was in the land of Israel that he found hope and was cured of the dreadful disease.
But more than that, as he stood before Elisha, he said this: Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in lsrael.
And he continued: I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any god except the Lord.
So more than just wanting to get a souvenir from the land of Israel, which would become just a memory, Naaman wanted the earth from the land of Israel because it was there that he had an experience of the God of Israel.
For Naaman, the earth from the land of Israel would be a living reminder of the God of Israel whom he will worship from then on.
That would make us think about the pilgrimages that we have made to the Holy Land or to the holy sites like Lourdes and Fatima.
We may have brought back souvenirs like religious objects made of olive wood, or statues of Our Lady of Fatima or Lourdes water.
Are these objects just reminders of our trips to these places, or are they objects of experiences which continue to live in our lives and deepen our faith in God?
In the gospel, we heard of the ten lepers who came to Jesus and called out to Him to have pity on them.
Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. As they were on their way, they found themselves cleansed and cured of their leprosy.
Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.
That made Jesus ask this disturbing question: Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they?
The other nine, where were they? Maybe for those nine, now that they are cleansed and cured, they can go on with their lives.
For them, Jesus was an encounter (and a souvenir) and it probably stopped there. Their lives can now go on without Jesus.
And Jesus even had to make this comment: It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner (who was a Samaritan).
So to put it bluntly, Jesus expects us to give thanks and to be grateful.
And we express that thanks and gratefulness by doing reparation and expiation for our sins and for the sins of others.
This coming Thursday is the 13th October. That date, 13th October, reminds us of the last apparition of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917.
An account of that day went like this – the three children were surrounded by a crowd of 70,000 persons under a torrential rain.
Lucy asked again of the Lady: "What do you want from me?" She answered: "I am the Lady of the Rosary, I desire here a chapel in my honor to be built, that people continue to recite the Rosary every day. The war is going to end (WW I), and the soldiers will soon return to their homes." Then Lucy asked: "May I ask you for cures and conversions, will you grant them?". The Lady answered: "Some yes, others no. It is necessary that they ask pardon for their sins, that they don't offend God our Lord, and that He is already too much offended."
This is just an excerpt from the accounts of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima.
The gist of the message of the apparition of our Lady at Fatima is essentially to make reparation and to offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.
And for us who are in the parish that is dedicated to the Sacred Heart, the devotion to the Sacred Heart compels us to make reparation for our sins and to offer sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Many souls are lost because there is no one to pray for them.
By making reparation for our sins and offering sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, we express our gratitude to Jesus, and at Mass we give thanks to God for loving us and saving us.
Let us give thanks and be grateful so that like Naaman and the Samaritan, our faith will lead us and others to salvation.