When we read this passage, when we read passages like this in the Gospels, the temptation is to think that we are the one leper that returns. I find it interesting to read a reading and then to find myself in every single person in the reading. And so here, we got the reading, we got Jesus, we got the 10 lepers, we got the one that comes back, so we don't have that many people, and we don't know that much about 9 of them. Can I find myself in Jesus? Yeah, I was creating the image of God, and I am capable of goodness. And that capacity for goodness is a direct reflection of the fact that I'm creating the image of God, and God is goodness itself. So yeah, I can find myself in Jesus. And can I find myself in the leper that came back? Yeah, I can find myself in him. I can at times be very gracious and very grateful. Can I find myself in the other nine lepers? Yeah, I can. But I have to look-- and I have to look. I have to look hard. I have to take my time. And I have to think about, Okay. Well, why didn't they come back? Why didn't they come back They probably all thought they had a good reason for not coming back.

Because I think about myself and the times in my life where I have behaved like the other nine lepers. I always had a reason. And I always thought my reason was a good one. I always had an excuse, and I always thought my excuse was a good one. So you got these nine lepers, and I like to imagine what were their excuses. Maybe one says, "Ah, I've been a leper for so long. I've been separated from my family, my friends. I don't want to delay. I want to go straight and see my family and friends."

And maybe another one says, "Oh, I've been separated for so long, and I live far away. My hometown is a long way away. And it's going to be dark in a few hours. And if I set off right now, I might get home before the crooks and the thieves and the robbers come out in the darkness." And maybe another one said, "Well, I'm old and I can't walk that good, and I can't really walk all the way down there to go and see Jesus, and then all the way back here." And maybe the next one-- anyway, you get the point.

There's plenty of good reasons, plenty of good excuses, but there is no excuse for not being grateful. There's no excuse. There's no excuse. There's no good reason not to be grateful. There's no excuse, no good excuse for not being grateful. And I think today, as we make our way through the world, let's be grateful. Let's be grateful for what is. Let's be grateful for what has been. Let's be grateful for what will be, physically and spiritually in our emotional lives, in our intellectual lives. Let's be grateful because one thing I have learned in this life is that everyone loves grateful people, and almost everybody resents people who are not grateful.

Have a great day and remember, be bold, be Catholic.