November 11
Benefits of Being Thankful
Today’s Gospel: Luke
17:11-19
(The Ten Lepers)
“On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along
between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten
lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said,
"Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them, he said to them,
"Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were
cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back,
praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving
him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then said Jesus, "Were not ten
cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God
except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your
way; your faith has made you well."
Reflection:
How often are you truly grateful, and how often
are you ungrateful in the moments when you know you should have been thankful?
Ten men were healed of leprosy that day, and only one turned back to say thank
you. Ingratitude has a way of making us less charitable toward the people
around us and pushing us into a negative, discontented outlook, so let us not
live that way, and let us choose a life of complete thankfulness instead.
Compassion is what gives us empathy for those who suffer, and mercy is what moves
us to do whatever we can to embrace their suffering as our own.
So here is my challenge to you, which is to live with an attitude of gratitude.
It feels wonderful to hear someone say, “Thank you,” or “I appreciate
everything you’ve done for me,” or “You have made my life so much better,” and
we should say those words to the people in our lives much more often than we
do. Most of all, we need to say them to Almighty God, because He deserves to
know how much we love Him and how much we appreciate all He has done for us,
every single day if possible.
Notice that the one who came back was a Samaritan, a foreigner, the last person
anyone would have expected to show the others how it’s done, and Jesus noticed
that the other nine kept walking. Gratitude is what turns a gift into a
relationship, because the nine received a healing, but the one received Jesus
Himself, who told him to rise and go on his way because his faith had made him
well. A thankful heart stays close to the Lord, and it also draws others toward
Him, since nothing makes faith more attractive than a person who is truly
joyful. It is Beneath the Standard of Mary that we learn how to be thankful,
because her whole life was one long “thank you,” and her soul proclaimed the
greatness of the Lord for the great things He had done for her, which is the
same song He longs to hear from each of us.
When was the last time you thanked God out loud, and what would you say
to Him right now? Who in your life has done something for you that you never
properly thanked them for? And are you one of the nine who kept walking, or the
one who turned back?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
