Homily

Ten lepers meet Jesus. And of course, they are required to keep a good distance from other people so they don’t infect them with the disease. Lepers were also required to call out a warning when other people were near so that others would know they were lepers and could stay clear of them. But these lepers do not call out with a warning. Instead, they yell “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Obviously, they have heard something about Jesus and they believe He can help them. And besides the leprosy what else is strange and different about this group? Jews and Samaritans together! In the misery of their situation they drop their hostilities toward one another. Their illness has, in a sense, made them brothers.

Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priest as the Law of Moses required of those who were thought to be cured of leprosy. And as they walk away they are healed. One of them is now shouting again, but he’s not shouting to warn other people, but rather to give glory to God. And this man was a Samaritan. He returns to Jesus, thanking Him and falling to His feet in gratitude. Jesus replies, “Were not ten made clean? Where are the other nine?” Nowhere to be found. Now I can relate to that. Not because it’s right, but because I have done it. Something was bad, or it looked bad, or it could have been potentially bad and I was worried about it. And then the situation changed for the better, or the bad I expected never came to be. And I was glad, but I was not necessarily grateful. Just relieved. Now, of course this was not true every time—there were times when I gave thanks to God, but there were many when I did not. There surely are times when I have been grateful to the Lord, and when I have been grateful to other people as well for the good they have done for me. Truly and sincerely grateful. But sometimes I am ashamed at how ungrateful and negligent I can be. That’s a sign both of self-centeredness and a lack of awareness of the value of what has been done for me, what has been given to me.

There are many times when I am not thankful for the comfortable life I enjoy. Millions upon millions of people have to leave their homes with buckets every day to go out and bring home the water they need to drink, cook and wash. And there are millions and millions of people who may have water piped into their house but when they turn on the tap they only get cold water. Not only do I not have to go out to get my water I have a choice—H or C—what a blessing that is often taken for granted until the water is shut off or the hot water is not working. This past Tuesday we woke up at the retreat house in Mundelein, Illinois and discovered there was no water. Apparently, the pump that circulates the water at the retreat house was broken. It was very inconvenient and surely many of the priests were at least disappointed. But when the water came back on, I wonder how many were grateful, or how many had thought about the blessing of being able to have easy access to water.

There are many people in our lives: family, friends, co-workers, strangers we come across during the day. I suspect you might agree with me that I am not always as grateful or thankful for the people in my life as I should be. The sad truth is that there are too many times when I pay attention to other people only because they are doing something wrong (or I think it’s wrong), or else they are bothering me or inconveniencing me, or not doing what they ought to be doing. It’s a sad thing if people are more noticed because of their bad behavior rather than their good behavior. And I do recognize the good actions of many people, but it seems that it’s so much easier to notice the bad. Which headline will get more readers: “Millionaire gives huge donation to orphanage” or “Millionaire arrested for drug trafficking”? Because of the way sin infects our nature, we are more likely to be interested in the story about crime instead of the story about charity. I think that’s truly fascinating.

And, on a personal level, doesn’t everybody know they are supposed to be good to me? Why do I have to keep reminding them? It should be obvious. Sometimes we can find it very hard to forget when others hurt us. The thoughts just stick in our brains. But nobody ever says, “I can’t stop thinking about how good you have been to me.” I think you will agree that we are not always as grateful as we should be to the other people in our lives, who are often so very good to us.

Lastly, I am often lacking in my gratitude for God. There have been times when I have wondered how miserable my life would be without the gift of faith and the grace of God that has brought me this far. If I were not a Christian what would I be living for and how would I be living? What would be my fears and my hopes, what would be my guide for living if I did not have faith and grace? There’s no way to know for certain, of course, what I would be like as a person living without faith. Maybe I wouldn’t be in jail or hooked on drugs, or angry with my life and the world. Maybe I wouldn’t, but I’m not that good now. How much worse would I be without faith and at least some openness to God’s grace? How much more selfish, greedy, frustrated, angry, fearful, materialistic and uncaring would I be without the gift of Christ? There are so many things I can and should be thanking the Lord for giving me. But for all of us, right now, right here, “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving” so we are in a perfect time and place to thank the Lord especially for the gift of faith in Him.

Therefore, in preparation for Christmas I suggest and urge you every day, some time at the start of the day, stop, give thanks to God for one thing you have that is a blessing, thanks for one person you are grateful to have in your life (and think about a person you might want to thank that day); and finally give thanks to God for something He has given to or done for you, thanks for His grace and loving kindness.

Things, Persons and Grace.

This short daily exercise, this moment of prayer and reflection can set up the whole framework of how we view the coming day. It is so very easy to allow distracted and even negative thoughts to set the tone for our day, and it may take a bit of effort, but how instructive, how healing and how absolutely right it is to bless the Lord for things, for all people and for all grace.

Besides thinking about gifts that might be given or received on December 25th, a daily prayer of gratitude and thanks will remind us of gifts already given and received, pointing us to the greatest gift of all time, God Who Becomes Man, Christ our Lord. We may not know where the other nine lepers are (and I am thinking they’re probably at Costco), but let’s be sure each day we are the one who falls at Jesus’ feet to give sincere thanks.