How often do we truly give thanks? Sure, in the United States we have our Thanksgiving holiday coming up where we all get together with our families and give thanks for all of the things we’ve been blessed with in our lives. We give thanks every time we go to Mass and celebrate and receive the Eucharist. But how often do we truly give thanks to God for everything in our lives, even when we truly do not deserve what we’ve been given? Despite our sins, our behavior, and regardless of our faults and the things we have done, God has granted us His mercy. He has granted us His mercy and forgiveness in spite of all the things we have done and will continue to do. We just need to say “Thank you” to Him, and be thankful for what He gives us. Luke wrote in todays Gospel:
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed.
The one leper realized what was happening. The other nine continued on, maybe they went to the priests to show what happened, maybe not. Even though they were afflicted by their condition for years, once they were cleansed they continued on with no respect or gratitude for what just happened. But the one leper knew Whom he had just encountered and the magnitude of what had just happened.
And one of them, 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.”
The leper that came back to thank Jesus was a Samaritan, a gentile. Why does Luke specify this? Perhaps the other nine were Jews that had heard of Jesus, and perhaps they felt entitled to be saved because they were God’s chosen people? But yet the gentile was the one that came back to give Jesus the glory and thanks that he deserved for healing them. All of the lepers asked Christ to heal them. All of them wanted His mercy and requested it, but when he actually gave it, only one gave him thanks and glory.
You see this in today’s world all the time. We all ask for Christ’s mercy to heal our afflictions, to aid us in our trials, to help us through our sufferings, and to be there for those we love. We ask and we receive, and we begin to feel entitled to His mercy. But how often do we truly give Him thanks? How often do we truly glorify God for the things that happen in our life that help us through the tough times, those prayers that maybe get answered, or those blessings we receive.
How many times do we thank Jesus for those good things that happen that make no sense, or those little things in life that although small, truly show us His wonder and power? Do we just continue on with our lives, or do we stop, say a little prayer, and thank Jesus for what just happened or what we have been given in our life? We are all that Samaritan. We are all those gentiles that are undeserving of God’s mercy.
Despite of who we are or the things that we have done, God still chooses to give us mercy. But we are not entitled or deserving of this mercy. We need to be forever thankful of what we are given in this life. Everything around us. This is more than just one day a year. We need to be thankful every day. We need to look at that bread and wine at Mass and know that it becomes the body and blood of Christ, and be thankful that God provides this means where we can more effectively receive His grace and mercy. And we need to look at our families, our friends, our successes and our failures, the things we have and the things we may lack, and know that it is all because of God and His purpose and plan.
It is all part of His mercy, and if we fail to thank Him and be grateful, we will eventually lose this mercy altogether. We are not entitled to any of it, but everything in life is in fact a gift, a gift we need to be continuously thankful for.
