28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C
October 12, 2025 5pm
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Rabbi Harold Kushner
I imagine that some or even many of us have heard of the Jewish Rabbi Harold Kushner.
Rabbi Kushner was an American, he lived in Massachusetts, and he died two years ago. He wrote fourteen books and his wisdom crossed religious boundaries and touched people of all backgrounds.
One of his books is The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm. The twenty-third is one of our most well-known psalms.
We often sing it at funerals. Well, in his book The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm, Rabbi Kushner reflects on gratitude.
The Lord is My Shepherd
He writes this.
“I read of a person who had formed the habit of writing Thank you on the lower left corner of every check he wrote. When he paid his electric bill or his phone bill, he would write Thank you to express his gratitude to the companies that made those services available.
“Even when he paid his taxes, he would write Thank you on the check as a way of reminding himself that his taxes were the price he willingly paid for living in the United States with all of its benefits (even though he didn’t think the Internal Revenue Service would notice it).”
Rabbi Kushner then goes on to write about himself.
.
“Each night as I prepare for bed, I put drops in my eyes to fend off the threat of glaucoma that would rob me of my sight and take from me the pleasure of reading. Each morning at breakfast, I take a pill to control my blood pressure, and each evening at dinner I take another pill to lower my cholesterol.
“But instead of lamenting the ailments that come with growing older, instead of wishing I were as young and fit as I once was, I take my medicine with a prayer of thanks that modern science has found ways to help me cope with these ailments.
“I think of all my ancestors who didn’t live long enough to develop the complications of old age or did not have pills to take when they did live that long.”
Gratitude
So, gratitude – that’s the virtue that Rabbi Kushner highlights.
Gratitude is not just a polite response for an act of kindness – like saying Thank you to the usher after Mass for handing you a bulletin. Gratitude is that, but it is more than that.
It is also a mindset, an attitude, a spirit within us. It is the perspective that we have much to be thankful for, beginning with this day of life.
Gratitude is feeling blessed by the good persons who have been or still are in our lives. It is being thankful for things we can easily take for granted – like having heat or air conditioning or a hot shower.
Gratitude means that we take time to express our thankfulness – like the one leper in today’s gospel. Notice how transformed this man was by Jesus – at least physically and maybe spiritually also.
Our gratitude, our thanking God or another person or both will also transform us. It will make us closer to God and more connected with others.
That’s the transformation that can happen by being grateful. We can grow closer to God and more connected with others.
Action
So, I’m asking each of you to do something in the week ahead.
Every day this week, each day, name one person or one thing for which you are grateful. Name something different each day and thank God for it.
And, if appropriate, thank the other person also. So, think of one person or one thing each day this week and be thankful.
Your gratitude will open you to God’s transforming power. You will feel closer to God and more connected with others.
That’s the power of gratitude. That’s the lesson of Rabbi Kushner and of the one leper in today’s gospel.
