The importance of being thankful

WORD OF FAITH: A breakdown of each week's upcoming Sunday readings to better understand the Word of God at Mass.

Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” — Luke 17:17-19

I am sure that most of us, if not all of us, have experienced times when we have really put ourselves out to help a person, but received no thanks. Depending on the situation and on how we are feeling, we can be really hurt and offended and perhaps even go away muttering something like “… well, that is the last time I help that person.” Sometimes, not only are we not thanked, but we seem to suffer for doing good, as in the saying “no good deed goes unpunished!” Turning things around, we may also have experienced a guilty feeling when we realize that we have not thanked someone when they have helped us. 

Therefore, I think that we can easily identify with our Gospel this weekend. Jesus has just cured ten people of that awful disease called leprosy (or Hansen’s disease, as it is known today). It is a terrible disease, for it disfigures the body, and at the time of Jesus, there was no known cure. The disease was so feared that anyone who contracted it had to leave their family and friends and live in isolation. We might say that they suffered not only physically, but also socially and spiritually. It does seem amazing then that only one of the ten lepers who had been cured (and a despised foreigner at that) came back to give thanks to Jesus. 

This account of an encounter with Jesus that Saint Luke describes with such clarity (Luke 18:1-8) can prompt us to think about the great and life-giving virtue of being a thankful person. As children, we are taught to say “thank you,” and that is good and right, but it is not just a matter of saying thank you, but much more of being a “thank-ful” person. Giving thanks then is not just something that we do, but it is also who we are. Being a thankful person or having an “attitude of gratitude” is the perfect antidote to being selfish or self-centered, or having an attitude of entitlement that can be so destructive. Interestingly, survey after survey has shown that those who have an attitude of thanksgiving (rather than of entitlement) are happier, healthier and more balanced. Being thankful is certainly good for you and for your health, both physically and spiritually!

This is especially true when it comes to our faith and our relationship with God. Being thankful helps us to see that everything we have and everything we are is actually a gift from God. As St. Bernard wrote: “There is no one who, with a small moment of reflection, cannot but see many reasons for being thankful to God … and to give thanks at every moment.” It is not for nothing that we call the gift that God has given to us, that is Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, the Eucharist: a Greek word that means thanksgiving. Indeed, if we listen with fresh ears to so many of our prayers that we say during Mass and outside of Mass, we can hear how they mention the words “thanks” or “thanksgiving” again and again. 

Our Gospel encounter is a reminder about the vital importance of developing an attitude of thanksgiving: of not just saying thanks, but of being or living thanks! It is vital because it is life-giving. Notice a very important, yet easily missed, detail in the Gospel. The one person out of the ten who did return was not only “healed” (as were the other nine), but then Jesus says to him, “You are saved.” In other words, the man received the gift of total healing: not just physically, but also spiritually. 

There are so many ways that we can show and live our sense of thanksgiving and gratitude. Perhaps we could commit to an hour of Adoration in an Adoration Chapel. We might volunteer to be part of a group that assists those in need, or to learn more about all the various Respect Life activities (especially as we journey through October, or Respect Life Month). Another great way to help us grow in this attitude or disposition of being a thankful person is to begin each day with some sort of prayer or hymn of thanksgiving, perhaps, or especially when we do not feel there is much to be thankful for. Maybe at such moments, we will not only be healed, but we will also be saved.