Readings: 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Lk 17:11-19
How Do You See the World? With Gratitude or With Disappointment?
1. The Eucharist is the greatest act of thanksgiving we can ever render to God. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The Eucharist, the sacrament of our salvation accomplished by Christ on the cross, is also a sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for the work of creation. In the Eucharistic sacrifice, the whole of creation loved by God is presented to the Father through the death and the Resurrection of Christ. Through Christ, the Church can offer the sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for all that God had made good, beautiful, and just in creation and in humanity.” It explains further, “The Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means, first of all, “thanksgiving.” At Mass, we gather around the Eucharistic table as a family of God’s people to give thanks to God for the gift of life, for good health, for our families, for friends, for our nation, and for everything God has done for us.” (CCC nos.1359 and 1360)
2. Isn’t it surprising that our church is not full to capacity, with standing rooms only, with grateful people singing God’s praises for the blessings received? The empty pews raise questions in our minds. Could Christ be asking us the same question he asked the Samaritan leper cured of his leprosy in today’s gospel reading? “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Being grateful to God for the blessings received should come to us naturally. And so should it be, with favors received from brothers, sisters, and friends. Unfortunately, we live in a world where selfishness, self-centeredness, and greed have created a false sense of entitlement, making us feel that what we have is ours by right. Therefore, it is more challenging to appreciate the contributions others have made toward our successes in life. Criss Jami got it right when he observed, “Man is not, by nature, deserving of all he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.”
3. This brings us to today’s readings. Two men, a foreigner and an outsider are presented to us to teach us the importance of gratitude. Outsiders, whether Samaritans or lepers are the special focus of the ministry of Jesus. This is because they were open to seeing God at work in a way ordinary believers are not. After his healing, Naaman recognized the special status of Israel’s saving Lord and declared, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” The sincere gratitude of Naaman towards the God of Israel and his prophet Elisha brought him a gift far more precious than the healing of his leprosy. He received faith in God and was determined to serve God faithfully. “If you will not accept (the gift he brought), please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.” (Gospel reading). Obedience to the prophet healed him, and his faith in God brought him healing of his sins. Humility obtained for him the cure of his skin disease. Gratitude to God gave him a far greater grace: faith in the true God. Jesus was pleased to see one of those lepers, the Samaritan, coming back to him, praising God for the favor received. He wondered why the other nine had not done the same. He expected them back, not because he wanted to receive their gratitude to enable Him to complete His work of love, of which their healing was only the first step: to bring them to faith.
4. How do you receive the world? With gratitude or with disappointment? We may be disappointed with the world and everyone because things do not go our way. We may feel that the world is so messed up that we have no reason to thank God for anything. Be that as it may, we should always receive the world with gratitude in our hearts regardless of where we find ourselves in life. We must also teach our children to appreciate and show gratitude for the blessings and favors received. Children don’t learn politeness from a Geography lesson. They learn it from their parents. Saying ‘Thank you costs us nothing but gives us everything.
5. Today’s readings remind us to thank God for his love and mercy towards us. We must teach our children not to take anything and anybody for granted. Everything we have is a gift freely given by God. God uses people to help us in our endeavors. If we have been ungrateful in the past, we can always change. So King Lear may not say of us, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” We can never pay off the debt of gratitude we owe to many men and women who have assisted us on the way to becoming the men and women we are today. How easily we forget that a friend, a teacher, a doctor, a surgeon, or a colleague has done something for us which is impossible to repay. But the tragedy is that we often do not even try to repay it. “Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou are not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.” (William Shakespeare: ‘As you like it).
6. The questions for today: who am I? Am I always grateful to God for his blessings? Or will Christ say of me, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?” Have I taught my children to say ‘Thank you for blessings received? Or have they got a false sense of entitlement from my behavior and inability to be thankful? Maybe we could set aside some minutes this week to have each family member thank God for some special things that happened during the day. This should not only be done during Thanksgiving Day once a year. We have reasons to be grateful daily. Count your blessings, one by one, and you will be surprised by what God has done for you. Giving thanks to God for all His blessings should be the most distinctive mark of a Christian. May the spirit of ingratitude not harden our hearts and chill our relationship with God and others. Let us pray with the poet George Herbert: “O God, you have given us so much. Give us one thing more – a grateful heart.” Amen.
Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP
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