And it came to pass that there met him ten men that were
lepers (Lk. xvii. 12).
They may well be described as lepers who, while having no true knowledge
of the faith, profess a variety of heretical teachings. For such people
do not hide their ignorance, but proclaim it as the height of learning;
priding themselves on what they have to say. There is no false doctrine
in which some truth is not mingled. True doctrine therefore mixed without
order with what is false, in a man’s discussion or conversation, and showing
like the colours in a body, resemble the leprosy that spots and blemishes
the human body with patches of true and false colour. Such persons are
to be excluded from the Church so that, if it is possible, placed afar
off they may with a loud voice cry out to Jesus. And so aptly there follows:
Who stood afar off and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us.
And rightly if they are to be saved do they call Jesus their Master.
For when those that are to be healed humbly call Him Master (Praeceptor),
they signify that they have gone astray from His teaching; and when they
come back to the teaching of their Master, they soon return to the outward
appearance of health. For there follows:
Whom when he saw, he said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And
it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean.
We find that none of those to whom the Lord gave bodily favours were
sent to the priests save lepers. For the priesthood of the Jews was a figure
of the Royal Priesthood to come, which is in the Church, and in which all
arc consecrated who belong to the Body of Christ: the True and Supreme
High Priest. And whosoever by the grace of God is without any trace of
heretical falsity, or pagan superstition, or Jewish unfaith, or of even
fraternal schism, let him, as free of diversity of colour, come to the
Church, and let him show the true colour of the faith he has received.
Other faults, such as those relating to the good health as it were of the
members of the soul and of the senses, the Lord heals and corrects Himself,
interiorly in the conscience and in the understanding.
And even Paul, after the Lord had said to him: Why persecutest thou
me, and I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, was nevertheless sent to
Ananias, to receive the sacrament of the doctrine of the faith from the
priesthood which had been established in the Church, and so that his true
colour might be approved; not because the Lord could not do all this by
Himself (for who other than He does these things even in the Church?),
but so that the fellowship of all the faithful by approving one another,
and by making each other sharers in the teaching of the true Faith may,
in all that is said, and in all the sacraments by which they are sealed,
present as it were the appearance of one true colour.
Cornelius also, when told by an angel that his alms were accepted and
his prayers heard, nevertheless, for the sake of unity both of doctrine
and of sacraments, is bidden to send to Peter; as though to him and to
his had been said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. For as they
went, they were made clean. For when Peter had come to them, and although
they had not yet received the sacrament of baptism, and had not yet come
spiritually to the priests, yet that they were made clean was made known
both by the Holy Spirit descending upon them, and by the wonder of the
gift of tongues (Acts x. 45, 46).
And one of them when he saw that he was made clean, went back’, with
a loud voice glorifying God.
This one who went back giving glory to God is a figure of the one Church,
in devout humility before Christ. He falling down before the feet of the
Lord, gives fitting thanks. For he truly gives thanks to God who repressing
the thoughts of his own presumption, is humbly aware of how weak he is
in himself; he who attributes no virtue to himself; who confesses that
the good he does, is due to the mercy of his Creator. Hence, fittingly,
He adds:
And this was a Samaritan. For Samaritan means guardian.
And by this name that people is very aptly signified who, giving thanks,
attribute all it has received to Him from whom it received it; as the singer
in the psalm declares: I will keep my strength for thee; for thou art
my protector: my God, his mercy shall go before me (Ps. lviii. 10).
He falls on his face, ashamed because of the sins he remembers he has committed.
For when a man is ashamed it is then he humbles himself. And for the same
reason Paul said to certain persons who as it were lay face to the ground:
What fruit therefore had you then in those things of which you are now
ashamed (Rom. vi. 21)? On the other hand, of the rider of the horse
(Amos ii. 15) that is, of the man lifted above himself by the glory of
this world, is it said: That his rider may fall backwards (Gen.
xlix. 17). And again, it was written of the persecutors of the Lord that,
They went backward and fell to the ground (Jn. xviii. 6).
What does this mean, that the elect fall on their faces, and the reprobate
falls backwards, if not that he who falls backwards does not, beyond doubt,
see where he falls; while he who falls forward, sees where he is falling?
The wicked therefore, since they do not see into what they are falling,
are said to fall backwards; for they rush headlong where they cannot now
see what will then happen to them. But the just fall as it were upon their
faces; for moved by fear, they humble themselves: of their own will they
throw themselves down amid things visible, that they may be raised up amid
things invisible.
And Jesus, answering said: Were not ten made clean? And where are
the nine?
One added to nine completes a symbol of unity. By it a certain whole
is arrived at, so that number goes no further, except that it returns again
to one, and this rule is observed in all numbering, to infinity. So nine
need one that they may be joined together under a certain aspect of unity,
and become ten. One has no need of the rest to keep its unity. For this
reason as the one who gave thanks is approved and praised as a sign of
the One Church, so the nine who did not give thanks, now rejected, are
shut out from the communion of this oneness. And so shall others like them
remain imperfect in the number of the nine. And rightly does the Saviour
ask where are they; as though He knew them not. For, with God, to know
is to choose; not to know, is to reject.
There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger.
As to the body, it is easy to see that a man may have no leprosy; and
yet he may not be sound of soul. But in the light of this miracle, it troubles
the mind to know how one who is thankless can be said to be made clean?
But it is now easy to see, that this also can happen that someone within
the society of the Church may know her true and pure doctrine, and may
interpret it all in accord with the Catholic rule of faith; he may distinguish
the creature from the Creator, and by this show that he is free as it were
from leprosy, from the spots of lies, and nevertheless be ungrateful to
God and Lord Who made him clean, because uplifted in pride, he has not
thrown himself down in loving humility to give thanks, and so has become
like those of whom the Apostle said: When they knew God, they have not
glorified Him as God or given thanks (Rom. i. 21). Saying, they
knew God, Paul shows that they had been made clean of leprosy; yet
he goes on to call them ungrateful.
And he said to him: Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee
whole.
He who had fallen in humble devotion at the Lord’s feet, is told to
rise, and go on his way. For whoever is acutely aware of his own unworthiness,
and humbles himself before God, is told by the comforting divine word,
to rise, and to put his hand to strong things (Prov. xxxi. 19);
and growing daily in merit, go on his way to the more perfect things
(Heb. vi. 1). For if faith made him whole who had hurried back to give
thanks to his Saviour and to the One Who had made him clean, unfaith has
brought spiritual ruin to those who, receiving favours from God, fail to
return and give Him glory.
And so this lesson is joined to the one preceding it in the gospel (that
of the unprofitable servants) for this reason; that there we learn, through
the parable, that faith must grow through humility, while here more clearly
we are shown by actual happenings, that it is not only confession of faith,
but also the doing of the works that follow faith, which makes whole
those who believe, and give glory to the Father Who is in heaven.
Amen.
