When Elisha refused Naaman’s gift with the words, “As the Lord lives whom I serve, I will not take it,” he was not only being polite. He was also showing humility by not taking credit for something God did, not him. One sure path to deepening your faith is to see everything as gift—good as well as bad.

There are two kinds of people in society: the healthy and the sick. We have many ways of dividing these populations. We confine the ill to hospitals, nursing homes, care facilities, sickbeds—and that is often necessary for their best interests. But other ways we separate the sick from the well do not serve their interests at all, but ours.

IT HAPPENED that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

WHEN my daughter, Hannah, was in fifth grade, a flyer was sent home to the parents of girls inviting them to have their children participate in “Girls on the Run,” an afterschool program designed to empower young girls both physically and mentally through a six week-training program that culminates in participation in a 5k run with thousands of other “tween-aged” girls.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

In scripture this week it’s the outsider who seeks and finds healing and gives thanks.

Whether Jesus was speaking to a woman who had anointed him in a Pharisee’s house, another woman whom he had cured of a hemorrhage, or a leper whom he’d cleansed, his closing words were much the same: “Your faith has saved you.”

If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. —Meister Eckhart