Gospel (Lk 17,11-19) - Along the way to Jerusalem, Jesus crossed Samaria and Galilee. Entering a village, ten lepers met him, who stopped at a distance and said in a loud voice: "Jesus, master, have mercy on us!". As soon as he saw them, Jesus said to them: "Go and present yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, seeing himself healed, went back praising God in a loud voice, and prostrated himself before Jesus, at his feet, to thank him. He was a Samaritan. But Jesus observed: «Have not ten been purified? And where are the other nine? Has no one been found to return to give glory to God except this stranger?” And he said to him, “Get up and go; your faith has saved you!

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

It is the second time that Luke narrates the healing from leprosy (the first is in Luke 5:12-14). This time, unlike the previous one, the lepers stop at a distance and shout out their need for healing. It is a cry similar to the one that rises from many lands, even distant ones, to invoke help and support. Unfortunately, so often, this cry goes unheard. We can also link it to the common prayer that Christians raise to God for themselves and for the world. In fact, there is a sort of harmony between the cry of the poor and the prayer of the Church. In both cases the people of the poor and that of the disciples find themselves united in invoking a world of justice and peace, of brotherhood and love. Jesus, like the Father in heaven, is not deaf to the prayers of the poor. Jesus looks at those ten and orders them to go and present themselves to the priests. During the journey everyone was healed of leprosy. Only one, however, goes back to thank the Lord; he is a Samaritan, a foreigner, a believer of a faith different from that of the Jews. Once again the evangelist indicates a foreigner as an exemplary disciple. This person, seeing himself healed, feels the need to thank, to express all his gratitude to those who had healed him. And Jesus has pleasure for this Samaritan and sadness for all the others. Yes, the Lord must be thanked. Certainly not because he needs it, but because it is healthy for us to understand that we owe everything to the Lord: what we are, the gifts we have, all come from God. And blessed are we if, like that leper, we know how to return to the feet of the Lord and thank him for the many gifts he has given us.