Thanksgiving For Blessings

We had a visiting priest at mass this morning. He spoke with a heavy accent, and I suspected that many in the church wondered, as I did, how the sermon might go. Would we be able to understand all the words, and would we get the message? We needn’t have worried. The sermon preached was one of the shortest I’ve heard, and one of the most impressive.

The gospel reading today was from Luke, the story where Jesus does not immediately heal the ten lepers, but tells them to go show themselves to the priest, at which point they are healed. Only one comes back to give Jesus thanks and praise, and then Jesus asks: “Where are the other nine?” The visiting priest at our church reminded us of the gospel as he began his sermon, about the importance of giving thanks to God. He then said he wanted to tell us another story, which went something like this:

A young boy fell into the ocean amidst some rocks, with large waves and treacherous currents, and he quickly began to drown. His mother called for help, and a crowd gathered and watched, but then one man leapt into the waters, reached her son, and pulled him to the shore safely. The woman hugged her son and cried, and slowly walked him home, never letting go of his hand. The next day the woman appeared at the shore again and asked the people: “Does anyone know the man who so bravely saved my son’s life yesterday?” Someone in the crowd pointed and said: “There he is.” The man shyly stayed back, but the woman went up to him and looked into his eyes and said: “Where’s his hat?”

“That is how we often show thanks,” the priest said.

I think most people in the church laughed; many probably went home and told the “joke” to their friends. But it wasn’t a joke; it was a lesson with very deep meaning, perhaps even updating Jesus’ words into some we could better understand, if we could stop laughing and start thinking.

The God of EVERYTHING at one point came down to our tiny planet. Because He loved us, He chose to die so that we might live. With our life, we give life to our precious children, and they are healthy. We live at a time of the most prosperity in history of the world. We live at a time of the greatest scientific advances. We live in a country where no one need die of starvation. We live in a country where no one has their pains untreated. We live in the most generous country in the world. And we live in a country where the poor only have one car and cable television with only a 32-inch screen.

And so, IF we go to church we pray: Lord, heal this cut on my finger. Please end the soreness in my back. If you could make my kids stop fighting, I’d be ever grateful. If it is your will, please help me find a job, or else I may lose my house and have to find a more modest living area (my pride would be hurt, you know). Lord, please don’t let my mom cook spinach again tomorrow.

These so often are our prayers. We forget all we have, all we have been GIVEN, and only seek more. Take a look at yourself in the mirror. Do you see your skin falling off your face; are there huge boils? Do you have leprosy? No? Then why are you one of the nine who didn’t come back?

In Luke’s gospel Jesus reminds us that thanksgiving for our blessings is a duty, one we often forget. But there is a bigger lesson here also, when this parable is put in the context of all the Gospels. Thanksgiving for our blessings is certainly an important thing, but did you realize that this is the only place in the gospels where Jesus mentions thanksgiving as a duty? Isn’t that strange? Even in the Our Father, the prayer Jesus gave us as the most important prayer, giving thanks is not mentioned.

I did a brief look for a commentary on that curious fact, but found none. In meditating on it, I think that perhaps thanksgiving for our blessings is not further stressed by Jesus because that is only part of the message. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will. (1Thes 5:18) Give thanks for our blessings? No, we are to give thanks for everything. So the blessing examples I gave above should be prayed about in thanksgiving, BUT the examples of woes I gave above should also be prayed about in thanksgiving. In our happiness and in our sorrows, God blesses us always. He makes all things good, and we should give thanks in ALL circumstances.

You know, one of my more common prayers is the words of the Our Father: “Thy will be done.” I even pray that “Lord, make me an instrument of thy Peace.” In these prayers I pray that I can do His will and that His will be done unto me. So as often as I pray those prayers, I guess it is a little bit strange that sometimes when my prayers are answered, I find it hard to give thanks. The answer is not always what I wanted --- but I guess that’s why I’m praying for HIS will, huh?

What is it that some people say? “Be careful what you pray for, you might get it?” No matter, in all things, give thanks.