Each day is a day of unexpected blessings and miracles, signs of how God is active and alive and present in our world and in our lives when we are open and receptive to the possibilities. In today’s scriptures we hear, read about, and experience this through healing. Naaman, a commander and mighty warrior, suffers from leprosy, but by God’s action he is washed clean. Also afflicted with leprosy, ten lepers implore God’s mercy and are healed. But the outsider—a foreigner—is the only one who returns to give thanks. Today many of us encounter other hardships of all sorts. Our reading in 2 Timothy makes the stark point that we all suffer, but it also reminds us that our God joins us in our sufferings and in our hardships, making us whole through our spiritual cleansing of baptism. The waters of holy baptism have healed us. The body and blood of Jesus in holy communion have made us clean. We have died with Christ and been raised with him. For all this we have returned to offer thanks, and from this place we are sent on our way rejoicing to share the good news.
image: “Healing of a Leper” mosaic in Pollock Sanctuary in Huancabamba, Peru. Copyright © Carlos Mora/Alamy Stock Photo. Used by permission.