Today's liturgy visits us with Jesus' encounter with the ten lepers. They are all healed, but only one returns to Him to thank Him, mindful of what he had received, and above all to 'give glory to God' [recognising Christ, Lord].
The Poor Man of Assisi, after his conversion, saw in the encounter with the lepers the way to become incarnate Word.
He felt grateful remembrance towards the Lord for the experience he had had among them.
And Jesus, in response, used him to heal the lepers as well. In the Sources we read:
"At San Severino in the province of Ancona, there lived a young man named Atto. He was so covered with ulcers that the doctors judged him to be a true leper. His limbs were all swollen and swollen, due to the swelling of his veins, everything appeared deformed. It was impossible for him to walk, and he had to lie in the bed of his sorrow, to the desperate distress of his parents. His father especially, torn apart by that excessive pain, no longer knew what to do. But at last it came into his mind to recommend and vow him to the blessed Francis, and he made him this proposal:
'My son, do you want to make a vow to the glorious Francis, who shines through many miracles, that he may deliver you from your evil?' He answered: 'Yes father!'.
The father immediately had a sheet of papyrus brought to him, took the measurements of his son's height and thickness, and then said to him:
'Get up, make a vow to blessed Francis that if you get well, every year and for the rest of your life, you will go as a pilgrim to his tomb, carrying a candle as tall as you'.
The young man obeyed his father's request; he stood up as best he could, and with joined hands, began to invoke the mercy of Blessed Francis.
Having taken the measure of the papyrus, he got up as soon as he had finished his prayer, and was completely cured of his leprosy. He began to walk, giving praise to God and Blessed Francis" (FF 563).
The grateful memory of what has been received bears witness to the fact that it pleases God that his creatures are not forgetful.
"Have not the ten been washed? But where [are] the nine? Were they not found to give glory to God, except this stranger?" (Lk 17:17-18).
Wednesday, 32nd wk. in O.T. (Lk 17:11-19)
