Twenty-Eighth Sunday or Ordinary Time-C
All Christians will, at one time or another, have the same experience as we see happening with this Sunday’s Gospel. The story is simple: ten lepers pleading with Jesus for relief were all healed from their infirmity, but only one, a foreigner, returned and gave thanks.
Leprosy was such a debilitating disease in the ancient world that suffering from the skin ailment was only part of the problem. Those infected were quarantined from the community, and they were forced to cry out, “unclean,” to alert others to stay away from them. A leper could not participate in the community or worship in the temple. The priest had to confirm a cure before a leper could retake his place in the community. Only one of the ten who was not Jewish returned to Jesus in gratitude.
The dynamic has been replayed countless times, even today. Leprosy is not the concern, but other physical and psychological calamities are. Most people will experience some medical trauma sometime during their lives. It obviously varies, but the theme is the same. When news comes, Christians have been taught, and rightly so, to pray for healing. All thoughts and emotions are concentrated on prayers and the expertise of medical professionals. In some cases, healing occurs, but at other times it doesn’t. In between are the many smaller healings we have been given, and once past, are forgotten. We no longer pray for the intention, and gratitude vanishes just as quickly.
Being grateful is not a circumstantial event, meaning it is not just a reaction to a gift we have received, but should be a state of life for Christians. Those who do not generally live grateful lives will probably not exercise the virtue even when faced with a particular situation. The reaction of the nine lepers indicates people who had not lived grateful lives, and one can surmise they viewed their lives as victims, with a notion that good health was their right. Is this not the motivation behind many of the social justice movements today?
Two extremes become clear: those who are grateful for God’s gifts throughout their lives and those who think they are entitled to things. In between are the majority who can be thankful while still having the notion of entitlement. Most of us fall into this category.
Christianity demands that our work focus on having a more grateful heart than an entitled one. This doesn’t happen naturally because a person is not inherently grateful. We are selfish people, and selfishness is the antidote to gratefulness. Our belief in Jesus and his gift of salvation should put us in a mindset that the gifts God has given can only be responded to with thankfulness. If we truly believe all is a gift, then we live a life far different from others. To be grateful means we must first be humble about all we have accomplished, which is predicated on God’s gifts.
God does not expect us to be grateful people on our own. There is no great secret here; God provides the fertile ground to become grateful people by attending Mass regularly.
At Mass, before all else, we say thank you. That’s what the Mass is, in essence, an act of thanksgiving. That’s what the word ‘Eucharist’ means. The meaning of the Mass is summed up in the dialogue before the Preface, when we all say, “It is right to give God thanks and praise.” Then, in the Preface itself, which begins with the words, “Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.”
So, we attend Mass in part to say thank you. What are we saying thank you for? For all of the good times in life and some of the harder parts, through which we have grown and become more loving and faithful. By participating in the Mass, we are encouraged by fellow believers praying, lighting candles, and even some in silence, thanking God for an answered prayer.
Each day, perhaps during our prayer before eating, we might want to include this short prayer: “O Lord, you have given me many things, but give me one more thing—a grateful heart.”