Theme: Healed But Not Saved
What have lepers to do with us today? We are not lepers and leprosy is almost extinguished in modern societies like Hong Kong. What does Jesus want to tell us today with the story of the ten lepers?
In ancient times, lepers were sinners. First of all, leprosy is infectious. Therefore, lepers were quarantined from the community because they were threats to the community. Leprosy was incurable and lepers were driven away from villages, to live or die on their own. Secondly, people believed that leprosy was a punishment from God. Lepers must have committed some terrible sins so that God punishes them with leprosy. Therefore, in the Bible, lepers symbolize sinners.
Don't forget that all of us are sinners before God who created us in His image (Genesis 1:26) but we fall short of His expectations. In the words of St. Paul, we "all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It is extremely difficult and offensive to tell people bluntly that they are sinners! Let's look at sin in another perspective. What is darkness? It is an absence of light. In a similar manner, sin is an absence of grace. That is to say, we have lost the graces which God had given us when He created us. So, we are sinners, not necessarily because we have committed some grave crimes but because we have lost God's grace for some reasons. We have all become some kind of lepers!
Because of our pride and selfishness, we are doing harm to each other in our families, our working places, our neighbourhood, our society and humanity. See how we have polluted the environment, destroyed the habitat of many species, caused global warming and created super typhoons these days. See how kingpins make huge profits through human trafficking and drug trafficking, how land developers in Hong Kong are driving up prices of housing beyond the affordability of the citizens in general. See how Hong Kong people have become workaholic "zombies", feeling guilty not going to work, sacrificing their health and family life! There is no doubt that Hong Kong is sick. Hong Kong people are sick!
The key message of today's gospel is gratitude. The Samaritan leper was grateful and returned to glorify God in a loud voice (Luke 17:15) Does it imply that the other nine lepers were ungrateful? Not necessarily! They were simply following Jesus' instruction to visit priests who would inspect them. They were definitely healed, but not necessarily saved, because they did not have the faith of the Samaritan leper! That is to say, the physical health of the nine lepers was restored but their relationship with God might not have! The Samaritan leper was both healed and saved because he was grateful! I believe that the Samaritan leper was not grateful suddenly. He had always been grateful, when he was healed and while he was suffering from leprosy! Being always grateful, he knew it was God's mercy and salvation that healed him, not because of his own efforts. On the other hand, the nine lepers knew that by following, doing Jesus' command, they would be healed. Perhaps they thought that their efforts contributed to their healing! God played no part! Gratitude guarantees that we do not stray too far away from God. That explains why Jesus says, "Your faith has saved you!" (17:19)
Since June 9, everybody has been drawn into the social unrest without exemption. All of us suffer a certain degree of inconvenience and probably sleepless nights. Many activities have to be cancelled, such as the annual Caritas Bazaar. Today is already the 126th day and the end is nowhere in sight. Most of us are bystanders. We have never taken to the streets. We have never chanted slogans or sung revolutionary anthems. We have followed the Church's requests to say the rosary, to abstain and to fast, to adore the Eucharist and to join benediction masses etc. Following Christ's instruction to help the needy, some Protestant as well as Catholic churches, not all because it depends on the location and physical settings of the churches, have made themselves accessible to whoever is in need, giving them a quiet place to pray to God, to take a rest or to dress their wounds physically as well as spiritually. Leaders of six religions in Hong Kong have tried to be peacemakers, appealing to the government as well as to the people to calm down and to make peace in four different occasions before today. Yesterday, our Apostolic Administrator Cardinal John Tong spoke on a radio program, "Letter to Hong Kong". He appealed to the Government to listen to the people and appealed to law enforcers to discharge their duties with conscience within the power endorsed them by the law so as to rebuild the respect and trust of the citizens etc. Inevitably, we ask God, "Where are you when we need you? Why should all of us suffer? What have you done so far for us etc.?"
Truly, this is a time of trial, a time to test our faith in God. Therefore, we should learn from the Samaritan leper and be grateful for our safety as well as the inconveniences we have to suffer. We have faith in God because at the request of Abraham, God pledged to spare a sinful city if Abraham was able to locate ten righteous people.
Brethren, are you righteous before God? I'm sure all of you are! Since more than ten people are sitting in this church, I believe God will spare this city from destruction.
God bless!
2016 Homily
Picture credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleansing_ten_lepers
常年期第廿八主日，丙年
主題：痊癒了不一定得救了
痲瘋病人與今天的我們有甚麼關係？我們又不是痲瘋病人，痲瘋病在像香港這樣的現代城市中，幾乎已經絕跡。耶穌今天想通過十個痲瘋病人的故事，告訴我們甚麼呢？
在古代，痲瘋病人是罪人。首先，痲瘋具有傳染性。痲瘋病人威脅到社區的安危，因此被社區隔離。痲瘋病是無法治癒的，所以痲瘋病人被驅逐出村外，自生自滅。其次，人們認為痲瘋病是天主的懲罰。痲瘋病人一定犯了一些可怕的罪，致使天主用痲瘋病來懲罰他們。因此，在聖經中，痲瘋病人象徵著罪人。
不要忘記，我們所有人在天主面前都是罪人。天主按照祂的肖象創造了我們（創1:26），但我們沒有達到祂的期望。用聖保祿的話來說，我們「所有的人都犯了罪，都失掉了天主的光榮」（羅3:23）。坦率地告訴人們他們是罪人，是極其困難和冒犯性的！讓我們從另一個角度來看待「罪」。甚麼是黑暗？這是缺乏光明。同樣道理，罪惡就是缺乏恩寵。也就是說，我們失去了天主創造我們時所賦予我們的恩寵。因此，我們是罪人，不一定是因為我們犯了一些嚴重罪行，而是因為某些原因，我們失去了天主的恩典寵。我們都變成了「痲瘋病人」！
由於我們的自尊心和自私，我們在家庭，職場，鄰舍，社會和人類之間彼此傷害。且看我們如何污染環境，如何破壞許多物種的棲息地，導致全球變暖，並造成超級颱風。且看黑幫如何通過人口販運和毒品交易賺取巨額利潤，香港的地產發展商如何將樓宇價格推高到一般市民無法承受的水平。且看香港人如何成為工作狂的「喪屍」，不工作便感到很內咎，從而犧牲了他們的健康和家庭生活！毫無疑問，香港生病了。香港人都病了！
今天福音的主旨是感恩。那個撒瑪黎雅的痲瘋病人懂得感恩，並回來大聲光榮天主（路17:15），這是否意味著其餘九名痲瘋病人沒有感恩之心呢？未必！他們祇顧按照耶穌的指示去找司祭檢驗他們。他們肯定可以得到治癒，但不一定得救，因為他們沒有撒瑪黎雅痲瘋病人的信德！也就是說，九名痲瘋病人的身體健康得到了恢復，但他們與天主的關係可能還沒有！撒瑪黎雅痲瘋病人得到了救治，因為他感恩！我相信撒瑪黎雅的痲瘋病患者並非突然感恩的。當他被治癒時，以及他患上痲瘋病時，他對天主總是懷著感恩之情！他總是心存感激，知道治癒他的是天主的憐憫和救贖，而不是因為他自己的努力。另一方面，九名痲瘋病人知道，按照耶穌的吩咐，他們會得到醫治。也許他們認為自己的努力有助於他們的康復！反而天主並沒有扮演任何角色！感恩保證我們不會離天主太遠。這就解釋了耶穌為甚麼說：「你的信德救了你！」（17:19）？
自從六月九日以來，每個人都無一倖免，陷入今次發生的社會動盪之中。我們所有人都遭受一定程度的不便，甚至失眠。許多活動被取銷，例如一年一度的「明愛賣物會」。今天已經是第126天了，動盪的結束，遙遙無期。我們大多數人都是旁觀者。我們從來沒有上過街。我們從來沒有高喊口號，或者唱過社運歌曲。我們按照教會的要求唸玫瑰經，守大小齋，明供聖體，並參加祈福彌撒等。教會遵循基督愛人如己的教訓，向有需要的人伸出援手。一些基督新教以及天主教會─並不是全部，因為這取決於教堂的位置和教堂本身的設施─開放聖堂給任何需要幫助的人士，為他們提供了一個安靜的地方，可以向天主祈禱，休息或在身心上，為他們包紮傷口。在香港，六大宗教的領袖試圖締造和平，在今天之前的四個不同場合中，呼籲政府和市民冷靜下來，尋求和解。昨天，我們的宗座署理湯漢樞機，在廣播節目「香港家書」中發表了講話。他呼籲政府聽取民意，並呼籲執法人員在法律認可的權力範圍內，憑良心履行職責，以重建市民的尊重和信任等。我們無可避免地要問天主：「我們需要祢的時候，祢在哪裡？為甚麼我們所有人都要受苦？到目前為止，您為我們做過甚麼？」
確實，這是一個動盪困難的時期，是考驗我們對天主的信德的時期。 因此，我們應該向撒瑪黎雅痲瘋病人學習，為我們的安全以及我們捱受的不便，表示感謝。 我們對天主有信心，因為在亞巴郎的請求下，天主保證，如果亞巴郎能夠找到十個義人，祂會寬恕那座罪惡之城。
各位兄弟姊妹，你們在天主面前是義人嗎？ 我肯定在座中的各位都是！ 由於有超過十個人坐在這座教堂裡，我相信天主會保護這座城市，免遭毀滅。
天主保佑！
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