28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C
October 9, 2022, 8:30am and 11am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Giving Thanks
This morning, I want to reflect with you on two questions.
First, why are we sometimes not thankful? And second, why is it important to be thankful?
1. Why Are We Not Thankful?
So first, why are we sometimes not thankful?
To answer this, let’s look at today’s gospel. Jesus heals ten lepers and only one comes back to thank him.
Following the guidance of some of our Catholic spiritual guides, let’s put our imagination to work here. The Scriptures may speak to us more fully if we do that.
So, let’s imagine: Maybe several of the other nine lepers immediately get busy building a new life for themselves. They busy themselves finding a job and a place to live and just forget the blessing they have received.
Maybe several of them decide to get back at anyone who made fun of them or ignored them. They are obsessed with vengeance and experience no joy in their cure.
And maybe several of them just run away as far as they can. They want to forget their old life even to the point of blocking out the cries of other lepers and people who are suffering.
Okay, all of this is imagination but may well be real-life. I believe it comes down to two reasons why you and I are sometimes not thankful to God in the way we should be.
First, we simply don’t notice the good things we have. We take for granted our life, our food, our clean water, our home, and on it goes.
We don’t even notice these ordinary things. And so, we don’t thank God for them.
And second, we get hung up on the negative. We get stuck on thinking about what we don’t have.
We keep saying “if only” this or “if only” that, things would be better. And this negative focus blocks us from thanking God.
2. Why Is This Important?
That takes me to the second question: why is it important to be thankful?
I see two reasons.
First, our thanking God gives us a certain humility. By humility, I don’t mean denying our talents or pretending that we are less than we are.
Instead, by humility I mean that we stand in a correct relationship with God. We remember that God is the giver and sustainer of our life.
We see God as loving and generous and remember God’s love for us in so many ways. Our thanking God leads us to a correct image of God and puts us in a correct relationship with God.
And second, it gives us compassion. It leads us to be empathetic with all other persons because all have been given life and love from God.
This compassion that comes from thankfulness begins with those at the very beginning of life. It begins with the unborn.
We have sensitivity for their life because we have first appreciated our own life as a gift from God. We do whatever we can to protect and care for the life of the unborn and also of the newly born and all children.
In a way, I think this might be a comfortable thing for most of us to do – I hope it is. But the compassion that comes from thankfulness may also lead us beyond our comfort zone.
Recently, I have thought of those with same-sex-attraction. In every parish where I have ministered, including right here at Our Lady of Grace, especially young people with same-sex-attraction or their parents have spoken with me.
And the theme has been consistent: they feel unwanted, unwelcome, excluded by our Church. This is so counter to the way of Jesus.
We need to be compassionate and respectful of life in all persons. Our thankfulness to God for our own life needs to lead us to welcome and care for all.
Conclusion
So, the take-away today is that our thankfulness is important.
Among other things, it gives us humility and compassion. Let’s make sure that we offer a prayer of thanks to God for something every day.
