Go and Be Healed

We stood for the Gospel as we always do at Mass, out of love and respect for the powerful words of Jesus. It was Thanksgiving Day. The church was packed with people who had come to thank the good Giver. I was squished comfortably nestled between my brothers in the pew.

I was thankful. But I was broken. And raw.

My focus was simply on getting through one day at a time, yet the question still lingered.

Where do I go from here?

I don't want to go anywhere. I want my knight to come rescue me...except that my knight broke up with me. That never happens in fairy tales.

Then the priest began to read from the Gospel, from the Book that is better than any fairy tale ever written…

11	On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Sama'ria and Galilee.
12	And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
13	and lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
14	When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.
15	Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice,
16	and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
17	Then said Jesus, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18	Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
19	And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well." -Luke 17:11-19

He said to them, "Go." And they went. Then they were healed. They had to step out in faith before they received their healing. Imagine their faith and trust in Jesus...leprosy sores all over them as they began their journey. What if they got to the high priests and the sores were still there? If no healing had taken place? Did they wonder that? Or did they simply trust in Jesus' command to "Go" and know that somehow, some way, as they journeyed...He would heal them.

The lesson wasn't lost on me. In all my pain and confusion and heartache, I wanted to curl up and wait for healing--or answers-- before I kept going. But Jesus asks me to trust Him. To keep going and trust that He is here and that the healing is a process.

It takes faith to 'go' when we're not sure what will happen on the way. It takes faith to walk when we're limping. To stand up when we're bleeding. To trust when we're hurting.

But faith makes us well, Jesus tells us (verse 19).

So we step out in faith and we keep going.

The healing is coming. And the Healer is with us.