Homily: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Friends,
today’s Scriptures invite us to reflect on the power of giving thanks. This, of course, is an ancient religious
idea, but even secular science has found that giving thanks has powerful
benefits. For example, recent studies
have shown that practicing gratitude has multiple health benefits. Those who practice gratitude have shown to
have stronger immune systems (thus, helping them to fight off illnesses); they
have improved mental health (that is, they experience less anxiety and depression
and more positive emotion); they have stronger relationships (those who are
married know that daily expressing gratitude to a spouse is a powerful help in
any marriage); and they have increased optimism (which has many long-term
benefits, including aging better). These,
however, are not the power of giving thanks upon which our Scriptures invite us
to reflect today. Rather, they invite us
to reflect upon how the practice of gratitude has the power to save us.
In
the first reading, we heard of the Syrian, Naaman, who had been afflicted with
leprosy and who had come to the prophet Elisha seeking a cure. Although initially he resisted Elisha’s prescription
(which was to wash seven times in the Jordan River), we heard today that, ultimately,
he did follow that prescription and so was cured. We heard then how he returned to Elisha to
offer him an extravagant gift in thanksgiving for the cure. Because he knew that God had cured him, Elisha
refused the gift and sent Naaman on his way.
For his part, Naaman refused to leave without taking two piles of dirt
from the land of Israel back to Syria on which he could build an altar to the
God of Israel on which he would offer sacrifices to God in thanksgiving for
having been cured. Because of his
gratitude to God who had cured him, Naaman turned away from worship of pagan
gods to worship the true God for the rest of his life. Thus, by his thankfulness, he was saved.
In
the Gospel reading, we heard the familiar story of the ten lepers who were
cured by Jesus. Because of their leprosy,
all ten of these persons were forced to live apart from their families and
friends in their village. Thus, they
probably formed as “fraternity of lepers”, supporting each other as they tried
to survive and as they prayed for a miraculous cure. All of them, I’m sure, had heard of Jesus’
power to cure leprosy. Thus, all of them
were excited to hear that Jesus was passing through their village and so, as a “band
of brothers”, they ran out to come close enough to Jesus so that he would hear
their desperate cry: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
For
these men, two miracles occurred. First,
Jesus looked at them. The Scripture
says, “And when he saw them…” These
lepers were used to being intentionally ignored by everyone, even if they cried
out to them directly. Jesus did not ignore
them. Rather, “he saw them”. Then, having seen them, he signaled his pity
for them and that he would cure them by saying to them, “Go, show yourselves to
the priests”. This was the second
miracle for them. The lepers knew that
to “show one’s self to the priests” was how one would be declared “clean” and,
thus, reintegrated into the community.
Believing in the authority of Jesus’ word, they all went off, trusting
that they would be found clean of illness and thus restored to their families
and their community.
Indeed,
as we heard, each of them was cured of their leprosy. Only one, however, returned to Jesus to thank
him for what he did for him. Jesus,
thus, asks the question, “If ten were cured, why has only one returned to give
thanks?” Were the other nine thankful
for their cure? Surely! Only the one, however, practiced the gratitude he had and returned to give thanks. Thus, Jesus declares solemnly to him, “Stand
up and go; your faith has saved you.” Ten were cured, but only one was saved. By his thankfulness, the Samaritan leper was
saved.
Wow,
this is an incredibly powerful message, isn’t it? Extravagant gifts and sacrifices God does not
ask of us. Only our gratitude. When we think about it, though, this isn’t so
surprising. Think about when you give a
gift to someone. Certainly, if it truly
is a gift, you would not accept anything in return except a heartfelt “thank
you” from the one who received it. Am I wrong? This is the same with God. He gives us gifts generously, knowing that we
have nothing to offer him that could possibly repay him for what he has given
to us. What he accepts from us is our
gratitude. The powerful thing about this
is that, when we return gratitude (instead of attempting to repay God with
gifts of our own), we remain open to receiving more from him, leading
ultimately to receive from him the gift of eternal life. Therefore, gratitude (as an act of faith)
saves us, since it is by practicing gratitude that we open ourselves to the gift
of eternal life.
One
of the other powerful spiritual benefits of practicing gratitude is that it
inspires us to make of ourselves a gift to others. This is the witness of all the saints,
right? Recognizing the super-abundant
gifts that they received from God, the saints knew the truth revealed to us in
Psalm 23, that “The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing shall I want.” Therefore, they freely shared all that they
had and all that they were with others in
gratitude for all that they had been given and to give witness to the One
from whom they had received it. Blessed
Pier Giorgio Frassati, whom I’ve mentioned before, was so grateful to have
received so much in his life, that he dedicated his life to sharing what he had
with those who lacked the basic necessities of life.
Truly,
each of us knows at least one magnanimous person who has shown us the same: A
mother or father, a grandmother or grandfather, an uncle, aunt, or cousin, a
neighbor, a priest, a deacon, or a religious sister, a teacher… the list could
go on and on. The truth about each of
these persons is that they gave because they were grateful for all they had
received and they did not fear that they would ever be left without. My brothers and sisters, this power of
gratitude is in each of us: we have only to practice it to unlock it.
The
number one way that we unlock this gratitude is here at this Holy
Eucharist. When we present our gifts of
bread and wine on this altar, I urge each of you to think of specific things
for which you are grateful and to unite them to the bread and wine that we offer. In doing so, your gifts of thanksgiving will
be transubstantiated with the bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul, and
Divinity of Jesus Christ, the one, perfect sacrifice offered to God which is
our sacrifice of thanksgiving for the gift of salvation. It is so important that we do this, that the
Church has made it an obligation for all the baptized, because to fail to do so
is to put us in danger of losing our salvation.
In other words, the Church recognizes and so teaches us that, by our
thankfulness, we are saved.
My
dear brothers and sisters, I am thankful that you are here today. I am thankful for the awesome gift that I can
stand here at this altar and unite your gifts of thanksgiving with my own to
the sacrifice of Christ to be offered to God.
Most of all, I am thankful to God that he has looked upon us with loving
kindness and has made it possible for us to have fellowship with him. May our united thanksgiving inspire and
strengthen us to make a gift of each of our lives, for the glory of God and for
the building of his kingdom among us.
Given in Spanish at Saint Paul Parish: Marion, IN – October
8th, 2022
Given at Saint Patrick Parish: Kokomo, IN – October 9th,
2022
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