Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
2 Kings 5.14-17 Psalm 98 2 Timothy 2.8-13 Luke 17.11-19
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Do you ever feel like Jesus in this gospel story? You’ve worked hard, put in a lot of time and effort on a project or family get-together, done a great job at whatever you do, maybe even worked little miracles; but it seems like no one recognizes what you’ve done, no one appreciates who you are, or at least the vast majority, even 90% of the people around you, barely know you exist. Or maybe you feel like the lepers – cast out, ostracized from society or from the in-crowd, ignored because somebody considers you to be different. Or maybe sometimes you feel like the one Samaritan leper – God is the center of your life, you remember each day to thank God for his blessings, you come to church each week – but when you look around, you realize that you’re in the minority. Where’s everyone else? So many people don’t go to church, don’t pray to God. Or you might be like the nine cleansed lepers who did not return to thank Jesus – there are so many things you want to do, your life is so busy; or that busy-ness wears you out so much that prayer and thanksgiving is the last thing on your mind. Most of us can find someone to relate to in this story. It’s all focused on our relationships – with God, with other people, and with ourselves. And it all starts with an encounter with Jesus Christ.
In the 1500s in Italy, a new form of prayer began to develop that quickly spread all over the world. It’s a form of prayer that is also centered on an encounter with Jesus Christ, not physically, but in the Eucharist. It was called the 40 Hours Devotion. The basic concept of this devotion is a continuous period of prayer and Eucharistic Adoration over 40 consecutive hours. These 40 hours symbolize the time Jesus spent in the tomb, after his death on Good Friday until his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. The Eucharist would be exposed in a gold vessel, called a monstrance, and people would come to the church any time they could, day or night, to spend time in prayer. There would be some formal times of prayer – like the rosary or the stations of the cross or the liturgy of the hours – but most of the time, the church would simply be open for personal prayer in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord.
It has been many years since we have had a 40 Hours Devotion here in our parish, but in just a couple weeks, we are renewing this annual time of intense prayer and adoration. It starts a week from Wednesday. From 5 pm on Wednesday, October 20 through 9 am on Friday, October 22, there will be prayer and Eucharistic Adoration here in the church. A full schedule can be found in today’s bulletin. I personally invite every parishioner, every person here, to spend at least one hour in church in prayer during that time – you can come on your own schedule, day or night. To make sure we have at least two people here all the time, there are sign-up sheets in the church vestibule this weekend and next weekend. We also encourage you to join us at 7 pm each of the nights of the 40 Hours Devotion for Evening Prayer and preaching in a style similar to a parish mission. But, most importantly, you are invited to take advantage of this time of prayer to deepen your faith, to pray for those in need, and to strengthen our community.
And that brings us back to today’s gospel. If you feel like Jesus in this gospel – worn out and tired from the hard work you put in each day – come, rest in the presence of Christ. If you feel like the lepers, on the outskirts of society – come, spend time with the one person who loves and guides you always. If you’re like the Samaritan, already a person of prayer – then come, pray for those whose relationship with Christ is floundering or hidden. If you feel like the other lepers, so busy that an hour of quiet prayer seems impossible – then come in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, when there are no other demands on your time. No matter where you find yourself in your relationship with God, these 40 Hours of prayer can be a gift – a gift of time, a gift of prayer, a gift communion with our Eucharistic Lord.
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