One of lepers, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”
(Lk 17:15-19)
Jesus points out that although ten were cured, only one was saved, the one who came back to give thanks, and that one was a foreigner. Being thankful is essential to salvation. In the past, this day was known as Armistice Day, that celebrated the signing of the articles of peace that ended the First World War, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It is also the feast of Saint Martin of Tours—a soldier who is converted when he encounters a beggar and shares his cloak with him, and then gives up war to serve God. Saint Martin is the first officially canonized saint who was not a martyr.
