(Wednesday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time; This homily was given on 10 November, 2010 at the Pope's College -founded by Pope Adrian IV- in Leuven, Belgium; See Luke 17:11-19)Thanksgiving. Gratitude. Giving thanks is something we are usually taught at a very young age. We receive a gift or a kindness from a relative or friend and our parents immediately seek to instill in us an attitude of gratitude. Perhaps they purchase a box of “Thank-you” cards for us after a significant event and encourage us to begin that age-old practice.
But what, exactly, is at the root of our need to give thanks? Is it simply the obligation to “ingratiate” ourselves to others, showing them that we were indeed worthy of the gift received? Is it merely a healthy habit which we cultivate to keep up appearances and expectations? Or is it something more?
If we look to the liturgy of the Church we discover the power of thanksgiving as something which affects us deep within. One of the Prefaces for the celebration of weekday Mass (Preface for Weekdays IV) communicates the following humble prayer to God:
You have no need of our praise,
yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.
Our prayer of thanksgiving
adds nothing to your greatness,
but makes us grow in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our prayer of thanksgiving
but makes us grow in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our prayer of thanksgiving
adds nothing to your greatness…
There is nothing we can do or say that will ever add anything to God; He is complete and content and in need of nothing from anyone. But there is much that He can do, and indeed does, to increase His life in us.
Our prayer of thanksgiving…makes us grow in your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is one thing to receive a gift, to be the recipient of some grace; but it is another thing altogether to grow in that gift and to allow it to reach its full potential. One can earn a Master’s Degree or a PhD—have received opportunities for education and intellectual growth—but still not allow those gifts to reach their full potential.
We can receive the greatest gifts of all—faith, our Catholic identity, the Eucharist—and still fail to grow spiritually even after having been given such tremendous graces. We often receive good things from God and from others, but we are also called to grow in those gifts so that they will bear the kind of fruit God intends from the beginning. Thanksgiving has everything to do with that fruitfulness.
Our Gospel this afternoon, from St. Luke, reveals this brilliant flowering of the gift of grace within the human heart. We are told there were ten lepers who stood at a distance from Christ and called out to Him for mercy. Telling them to go and show themselves to the priests of the temple (a requirement according to Mosaic Law) they immediately obey and suddenly, on the way, they are cured! Yet only one of them returns, thankful.
All ten were healed; ten received the gift and grace of physical healing, but for nine of them the grace stopped there. They were healed by God…but that is all that happened! Not so, for the one who returns to give thanks. He comes back and falls down at the feet of Jesus. He is filled with gratitude and praise. His entire life has been changed, not just his body. And then Jesus says something to him that He says to none of the others:
“Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
—Luke 17:19
Salvation has come for this man! He has been changed and transformed not just physically, but spiritually, as well. Body and soul he has been touched by God in the deepest part of himself. It all began with that initial grace received from Christ, and was brought to fruition through the gift of gratitude:
Our prayer of thanksgiving
There is nothing we can do or say that will ever add anything to God; He is complete and content and in need of nothing from anyone. But there is much that He can do, and indeed does, to increase His life in us.
Our prayer of thanksgiving…makes us grow in your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is one thing to receive a gift, to be the recipient of some grace; but it is another thing altogether to grow in that gift and to allow it to reach its full potential. One can earn a Master’s Degree or a PhD—have received opportunities for education and intellectual growth—but still not allow those gifts to reach their full potential.
We can receive the greatest gifts of all—faith, our Catholic identity, the Eucharist—and still fail to grow spiritually even after having been given such tremendous graces. We often receive good things from God and from others, but we are also called to grow in those gifts so that they will bear the kind of fruit God intends from the beginning. Thanksgiving has everything to do with that fruitfulness.
Our Gospel this afternoon, from St. Luke, reveals this brilliant flowering of the gift of grace within the human heart. We are told there were ten lepers who stood at a distance from Christ and called out to Him for mercy. Telling them to go and show themselves to the priests of the temple (a requirement according to Mosaic Law) they immediately obey and suddenly, on the way, they are cured! Yet only one of them returns, thankful.
All ten were healed; ten received the gift and grace of physical healing, but for nine of them the grace stopped there. They were healed by God…but that is all that happened! Not so, for the one who returns to give thanks. He comes back and falls down at the feet of Jesus. He is filled with gratitude and praise. His entire life has been changed, not just his body. And then Jesus says something to him that He says to none of the others:
“Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
—Luke 17:19
Salvation has come for this man! He has been changed and transformed not just physically, but spiritually, as well. Body and soul he has been touched by God in the deepest part of himself. It all began with that initial grace received from Christ, and was brought to fruition through the gift of gratitude:
Our prayer of thanksgiving
adds nothing to your greatness,
but makes us grow in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Having received such a gift and such a grace as Jesus Christ here in this Holy Mass, how will our gratitude bear fruit in our lives this day? How is God calling us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude so that all the graces we receive may reach their fulfillment in lives of joyful service and love for God and those around us?
but makes us grow in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Having received such a gift and such a grace as Jesus Christ here in this Holy Mass, how will our gratitude bear fruit in our lives this day? How is God calling us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude so that all the graces we receive may reach their fulfillment in lives of joyful service and love for God and those around us?
