Grateful for being saved

Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Among priests, we often lament and complain about how the priesthood can be a thankless job. After a hard day’s work of attending to a myriad of needs and requests, celebrating mass, anointing the sick, counselling individuals and couples, instead of receiving a simple word of thanks, our efforts seem to earn us dirty looks or stares, or just an outright criticism that we had taken too long, not done enough, set the bar too high, failed to be sufficiently compassionate or should have just done it differently. I often stop myself when I begin this broken record litany of self-pity and remind myself, “Have I too been thankless for my priesthood, for my parish and parishioners?” “Have I forgotten to be grateful for the home cooked meals infused with love, the many dedicated lay persons who quietly carry out their apostolate thus making the work of a priest lighter, the kind words of encouragement and appreciation given when most needed, or the offer to chauffeur me, or the patience shown to me even when I was testy, impatient and annoyed?”

So, should I be complaining about the ingratitude of others when I suffer the same malaise too? I guess it is a good reminder that it is not just priests who occupy thankless jobs, but almost everyone too. It was G.K. Chesterton who said, “Gratitude, being nearly the greatest of human duties is also nearly the most difficult.”

In today’s gospel, among all the ten lepers who were healed, it was the Samaritan leper alone who distinguished himself when he returned to thank the Lord. To be fair, all ten lepers stepped out in faith and cried out to the Lord for help; they were obedient to His counsel to show themselves to the priests, and as a consequence they were healed of their disease. Yet only one expressed gratitude for the miracle. And to add irony to this story, this person was a Samaritan, despised by the Jews. The story illustrates two points. The first point is that no one is excluded from the love of God, God does not discriminate when He shows His abundant mercies to both saint and sinner alike, to the grateful and the ingrate.

But the gospel pays greater attention to the second point - the former Samaritan leper gives us a powerful lesson in gratitude. Gratitude is not about ‘looking at the bright side’ or denying the realities of life. It’s not saying, ‘Thank God, it could be worse!’ Gratitude goes much deeper than that. The leper’s action reveals the heart of gratitude – it is treasuring Christ more greatly and savouring His redeeming work more sweetly. In the first reading, in the story of the foreign general Naaman, we recognise that gratitude has the power to heal. But this is only part of the mystery of God’s grace. In the second reading, St Paul reminds us that gratitude also liberates. But it is in the gospel that we discover climatic apex of this godly virtue – gratitude saves.

Notice that although the nine lepers were ‘cleansed’, but our Lord reserves these words for the Samaritan leper alone, “Your faith has saved you.” Only the foreigner is grateful for the grace received and that is his salvation. The others think solely of the benefits received, physical healing and social acceptance; but neglected to pursue the path of well-ness right to its very end, which is salvation. Salvation is the one thing which we must desire most above all gifts from God. Most people search for a cure to our disease, longevity to life, a solution to life’s problems; but ultimately lose sight of the greatest gift of all, the reason for the Father having to send His Son to die on the cross for us – our salvation. No work of God's is more worthy of gratitude than salvation.

If gratitude opens the window to heaven, then ingratitude is what unlocks the gates to hell. It was St. Ignatius of Loyola who asserted:  “The essence of sin is that of ingratitude.”  We have forgotten that before coming to know Christ, each of us lived in a self-imposed prison of guilt, spiritual blindness and sin. But Christ not only rescued us from the power and penalty of our sins, He also lifted us to the realm of grace. He delivered us from punishment and brought glory. He defeated death and won for us eternal life. He took away the threat of hell and gave us the hope of heaven. Gratitude is therefore keenly linked with memory – memory of the grace of salvation we have received from God and who continues to complete and perfect the work which He has begun in us.

Gratitude isn't something that should pass from our minds with the passing of a season. It's an attitude, a God-centred response to circumstances that should pervade every season of our lives. Perhaps the most difficult time to be thankful is when we're in the midst of a setback, a challenge, or a trial. When the storm comes, giving thanks is rarely our first reaction. Being thankful for adversity is never easy, but it is always right. Our faith reminds us that the difficult times are the ones in which God seems to be most at work in our lives, strengthening our weak spots, comforting our hurts, and drawing us to greater dependence. A person cannot be complaining and thankful at the same time, nor can they worry about money or health or anything while being thankful. With gratitude comes joy, hope, peace and love.

At the very heart of the Eucharist, described by the Second Vatican Council as the “source and summit of the Christian life,” is gratitude. The word ‘Eucharist’ comes from the Greek word, “eucharistia,” (εὐχαριστία) meaning to give thanks (for the good graces we have received).  The Eucharist is the primary place where we can express our gratitude to God. The entire Mass is a prayer of thanksgiving – it is first and foremost, Christ’s thanksgiving to the Father, and secondarily, the Church’s thanksgiving for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It is here that we give thanks because the Sacrifice of the Cross re-enacted at every Eucharist has saved us and continues to make us whole – completing, bringing together and finishing the grand work of salvation which God has begun in us. The Eucharist contains and carries many deep and inexhaustible realities; it helps continue the incarnation of God in history; it is God’s physical embrace; it is the new manna that God gives to nurture His people; it is the antidote to death and the true elixir of immortality, it is God’s gift of reconciliation and forgiveness; it is an invitation to a deeper discipleship; and it is an anticipation of the heavenly banquet that the Lamb and Bridegroom has prepared for us.

Yes, we’ve often heard people complain (and perhaps we have been guilty of it too), “I don’t get anything out of Mass.” My reply is that, “The problem is not that you are not getting anything but because you fail to recognise how much God is giving to you through the Eucharist.” When we lack gratitude, when we only have complaints, the Eucharist becomes an empty, boring and meaningless ritual. We have been healed from the effects of sin. We have been freed from the bondage of sin. We have been saved! Rather than adding on to our litany of woes and complaints, let us add on to our list of praises and thanksgiving. Thanking God for saving us should be the unceasing occupation of our lips. Gratitude should make us sing of salvation, talk of salvation, and finally witness the salvation we have received in our daily lives. And so we give thanks not just because God has healed us or answered our prayers, but primarily because He has liberated us from sin, fear and anxiety. The prospect of being made whole, being healed, being liberated and being saved should be enough to make us turn around, rush back again to Jesus, and say thank you, Jesus. “Thank you so much.”