Homily

I enjoy watching the TV show, "Undercover Boss." If you have never seen it, it is a program about the heads, presidents, and CEO's of companies who disguise themselves and go out into the field to work at the regular jobs their employees do every day. To explain why there are cameras, the people they are teamed up with at the jobs sites are told that they are making a documentary about older workers who have lost their jobs and are trying out new jobs in different types of work. So the company CEO's usually spend about a week doing different sorts of jobs alongside the workers at the bottom level of their company, observing how things go and talking with their co-workers.

The CEO's usually find many things they want changed from their time spent working at their company's jobs, but they also usually find at least a few employees who truly impress them because of their skills, their work ethic, their great attitude, their loyalty to the company, the way they treat the customers or handle their jobs. And sometimes the employees they are assigned to work with may even be suffering from great personal hardship or even the illness of themselves or family members.

Almost always these "undercover bosses" say, near the end of their week something like this: "I sit in my office and think about numbers, and programs, and costs and profits every day. And it is very easy to forget that the company is really all about these people here on the front lines who are doing the work for our company. Without them we wouldn't have any numbers or profits to talk about. It's so easy to forget that."

Some time after the bosses are back in their offices all the regular employees they have worked with are brought to the corporate headquarters but they're not told why they have to go. Then imagine their surprise when they learn that the guy they were training for a day was actually the president of the company, and they're sitting in front of him not as a co-worker but he's their boss.

And most of the time these CEO's also reward the excellent employees in some way based on what they learned about them on the job. So people have gotten scholarships, paid vacation trips, medical bills taken care of, given promotions or advanced training or some other type of reward for their superior work attitude and skills. Now here's the strange part: when it gets to the part of the show I usually get teary-eyed. No kidding. One day I stopped and thought about it. Why should this exchange between company president and common worker bring a tear to my eye? I think it's the gratitude. The boss recognizes the superior qualities of his/her employee, and the employee is amazingly surprised to be receiving words of praise, and even a gift, from the head of the company. The boss shows his appreciation, the employee experiences his gratitude, and he/she is grateful for what is said and what is given. It's the gratitude and appreciation that brings a tear to my eye.

In today's epistle St. Paul urges the Corinthians to contribute to the charity fund for the needy Christians in Palestine by reminding them of the generosity of God. And the Gospel's message about doing unto others as you would like done unto you also is based on a certain understanding and gratitude for what God has done for us all.

How thankful am I? How grateful am I? Not nearly enough, I'm very sure. I am grateful for the people who labor and serve and pray in our parish. I am grateful for every kindness and help that you offer to me. I am thankful to God for many blessings, past and present. But I know I am still not grateful enough. I don't live enough as a grateful person. Too many times my head and my heart are more filled with thoughts about what is wrong, what is not finished, what is not good, what has not happened. I spend a lot more time being disappointed than being satisfied, and it is so much easier to be disappointed than to be satisfied. Not better. Just easier. When all is well it seems it should be that way and I rarely give it a second thought. But when things go wrong my attention is fixed on it. I rarely give thanks for my great health, and don't especially consciously feel grateful for it. But cut out my gall bladder and my mind is sharply focused on what I don't have. Now I'm thinking of how unhealthy I might be.

Now, granted, there are difficulties and troubles in life that we do have to deal with but I suspect that all of us could stand the blessing of being more grateful, more thankful, and more appreciative for all the good people and the good things in our lives, including the untold and unseen graces that have come to us from Christ our Lord. We would be much better people if we could spend more time looking at the pie that is still in the pan rather than focusing on the one piece that is missing. It is an attitude we should work at and pray for, that we who know we have received many good things from God and other people would be even more aware of our blessings than we are today, so that we, in turn may be more generous to others and offer even greater thanks to the Lord for what He had done for us.

May our gratitude continue to grow, not just as in those times when we say "thanks" for favors received. May it continue to grow as a way of relating to God Who has given us everything that we have whether we have deserved it or not, even His own divine life which we can never deserve. May we continue to grow in thankfulness as a way of living, a way that is suited for the children of God and the disciples of Christ. May we continue to grow in the deepest appreciation of the Savior Who gave Himself up completely for our sake, and still does so today. He is the "Undercover Boss" Who comes to us disguised as bread and wine.