28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19)
Many Americans recognize today’s Gospel
because it is read at Mass on Thanksgiving Day. It reveals the natural desire
of the human heart to give thanks to those who have done good to us. It also
shows God’s expectation that His people express gratitude to Him. Let us first
reflect on gratitude as the foundation of our thankfulness toward our
benefactors. Then we shall look at
today’s readings for examples of this virtue
Gratitude is both an emotion and a virtue.
We feel it most deeply when someone helps us out of goodwill, not obligation.
Each of us has our own story of having been helped by someone who didn’t even
know us. A man once told how he was stranded in a distant city when his car
broke down on the night before Thanksgiving. By chance, he met an
African-American mechanic. The man opened his shop early the next morning to
repair the traveler’s car and charged him only for parts.
Like love, gratitude is also a virtue. It
is a way of life shaped by our choice to be thankful and also by constant
practice. It has been called “the foundation of the moral life” because it
acknowledges a world of grace. In an act of faith, we recognize that God has
given us life and everything we have. When we choose to respond to our Provider
with words and actions giving thanks, we practice gratitude. By repeating this
positive response whenever good is done to us, we develop the virtue to become
kind, gracious, and loving people.
Yet it is possible to reject the goodness
of others. Some people believe that everything they have has come solely from
their own efforts. If they have ever received anything from others, they think
it was owed to them. In an episode of The Simpsons, Bart is asked to say
grace before a meal. He says something like, “Dear God, thanks for nothing; we
paid for everything on this table.” We laugh because we recognize how absurd Bart’s
words are.
Gratitude does not always come naturally.
Some suffer so much in life that pain overwhelms any thankfulness. How can
those with Huntington’s disease—an illness that attacks the brain and leaves
its victims completely incapacitated in a short time—see God as good? How can
the family of a child murdered in a random act of violence say “thank you” to
God? Especially for them, gratitude is a conscious choice—an act of faith that
affirms St. Paul’s teaching in Romans: “We know that all things work for good
for those who love God.”
Memory also nourishes gratitude. Sometimes,
after many years, we recall the kindness others have shown us. It may cause us
to feel sorrow that they are no longer with us to receive our thanks.
With this background, let us examine
today’s readings. In the first, the Syrian general acknowledges that the Lord
God has healed him of leprosy. It is instructive that the prophet refuses the
general’s gift. Elisha clearly wants to show that God acts freely, not out of
obligation or for payment. In the second reading, it is the memory of Christ’s
death and resurrection that moves St. Paul to respond with gratitude. Even
though he suffers “to the point of chains,” he gives thanks to God for knowing
Timothy. Finally, in the Gospel, the Samaritan leper returns to Jesus to show
his gratitude as soon as he realizes he has been healed. Jesus expects all the
healed to return with the same gratitude. He does not need their thanks, but
such gratitude would mean that they have become people of virtue. Then Jesus could
say to them, as he says to the Samaritan: “Your faith has saved you.”
Even the secular world recognizes the value
of thanksgiving. Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving tomorrow, and Americans
next month. We Catholics give thanks to God every time we celebrate the
Eucharist. May we, with the help of grace, be transformed into people of deep
gratitude, ready to recognize every act of goodness that comes our way.
