Give Thanks to the Lord
October 14, 2007

Readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1: 2 Kings 5:14–17

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 98:1, 2–3, 3–4

Reading 2: 2 Tim. 2:8–13

Gospel: Lk. 17:11–19

Link to Readings

By Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.

Today’s Gospel gives us the account of Jesus’ healing the ten lepers.

Why did Our Lord command the lepers to show themselves to the priest? Among the ancient Hebrew people, the Levitical priests were not only in charge of the complicated temple liturgy; they were also public health officers.

Leviticus 24:1–32 gives the procedure followed by the priest when he examined a leper who thought he had been cured. If the priest found that the leper had been cured, the priest performed certain ritual acts. On the leper’s behalf, the priest offered a sacrifice of reparation and then a sacrifice for sin. The priest also administered ceremonial anointings with oil. Representing the entire community, the priest thus welcomed the cured leper back into normal community life.

Today’s Gospel tells us about nine instances of ingratitude and one instance of gratitude. We all know too much about ingratitude. We’ve felt the brunt of it, and at times we’ve been guilty of it. Let’s think rather about gratitude. It’s supposed to be basic in our living the Christian life. Look at the Christian virtue of gratitude from several points of view.

Start with the fact that true Christian worship is an outpouring of praise and thanksgiving far greater that that in any other religion.

In no other religion can you find kind of joy and thanksgiving you find in Christian worship, especially in Christian music. Nowhere is there anything to compare, for example, with the “Halleluiah Chorus” of Handel’s Messiah. (That word “halleluia,” by the way, is sometimes translated as “Hurray For Yahweh!”)

Christians rejoice—or should rejoice—in knowing they have received the greatest gift God could possibly bestow: namely, His own Son.

In Jesus Christ, God has revealed Himself to a depth and a degree of intimacy unknown outside the Christian faith. And so Christians have more reason, more responsibility, to be grateful than people of any other religion.

“Always and Everywhere”

Furthermore, our liturgy repeatedly summons us to give thanks and praise to God.

In our sacramentary, there are eighty-six prefaces for the four Eucharistic prayers. Eighty of those prefaces begin with these words: “Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. . . .” Two of those prefaces say this: “Father, it is our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.” In various ways, the remaining four prefaces also call on us to offer thanks and praise to God.

Or take those familiar words “Lift up your hearts. The Latin says literally “up the hearts” or “upwards the hearts” or “on high the hearts.”

Moreover, for mature Christians, gratitude is the basic motivation for loving God and serving others. Gratitude, expressed in love, is the most powerful positive motive we can have. Gratitude underlies love—it is the reason for the deepest love.

We call our central act of worship and devotion the “eucharist” [from a Greek prefix and a word which together mean “good gift”]. The word “eucharist” itself means “thanksgiving.” We are called to be a “eucharistic” people—a thanksgiving people.

Why Be Thankful?

There is also the fact that in Sacred Scripture God commands us to be thankful. The Psalter has been the hymnal of the Jewish people for thousands of years. It has also been the basic hymnal of the Catholic Church from the very beginning. The theme of thanksgiving runs throughout the Psalter: Listen to a few excerpts from the psalms:

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.” (50:14)

“Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.” (97:12)

“O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples!” (105:1)

Then see the deepest reason for gratitude and thanksgiving to God.

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever.
O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures for ever.” (136:1–3)

Here are samplings of the same theme in the New Testament.

“As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Col. 2:6–7)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness.” (Col. 3:16–17)

“. . . let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.” (Col. 3:15)

Indeed, the truth is that God commands us to be thankful in all circumstances. There are no exceptions to God’s rule about giving thanks.

“. . . be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.” (Eph. 5:18b–20)

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:16–18)

“In all circumstances”—even the most difficult, the most discouraging, even the most tragic circumstances—“give thanks.” And why? Because “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” And why is giving thanks in all circumstances—even the worst imaginable—“the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”?

Here are two main reasons. The first is that giving thanks to God in all circumstances greatly helps enable us to cope with life’s greatest difficulties and deepest sorrows.

Praising God helps pull us out of our self-centeredness and focus on Him. That’s precisely what each one of us needs, especially at the most trying times. When God commands us to praise Him in all circumstances, He is like a parent trying to get the attention of a child in need, so the parent can do something for the child. God says to us—like a parent—“Look at me! Listen to me! Let me help you!” When we praise God in the midst of even great difficulties, we do indeed look at Him; we listen to Him; we begin to let Him help us.

“It Is the Lord!”

That’s one reason for praising God in all circumstances. Here’s another.

Giving thanks to God in all circumstances alerts us to the fact that He, our infinitely loving Father, is intimately involved in everything that happens to us. In every instant of our existence, God is at work in us, giving us His grace, trying to enlist our wills in carrying out His perfect plan for each of us.

Many things can happen to us that we believe must be contrary to God’s immediate will. But nothing can happen which is entirely outside God’s will. In other words, nothing can happen unless God allows it to happen. When we praise God in all circumstances, we say, in effect, “I can’t see you; I can hardly imagine your being here; but I know you are here.”

Remember the time after Jesus’ Resurrection when Peter and John and others had gone fishing. Jesus stood on the shore, unrecognized, until John suddenly realized and exclaimed, “It is the Lord!” In his little book, Abandonment to Divine Providence—such a helpful, inspiring book!—de Caussade tells us that we must learn to “see and rejoice in . . . [God’s] active presence in all that befalls us.” Then, “at every event we should exclaim, ‘It is the Lord!’” (36)

That recognition—“It is the Lord!”—opens us to the working of God’s Holy Spirit of power like nothing else can. And once you accept the fact that God is at work in the event, then you can let Him sustain you to the end.

To illustrate this kind of trust, de Caussade offers a helpful analogy. He says,

Let’s take a piece of stone destined to be carved into a crucifix or a statue. We might ask it: “What do you think is happening to you?”

And it might answer: “Don’t ask me. All I know is that I must stay immovable in the hands of the sculptor, and I must love him and endure all he inflicts on me to produce the figure he has in mind. He knows how to do it.

“As for me, I have no idea what he is doing, nor do I know what he will make of me. But what I do know is that his work is the best possible. It is perfect. I welcome each blow of his chisel as the best thing that could happen to me, although, if I’m to be truthful, I feel that every one of these blows is ruining me, destroying me and disfiguring me. But I think only of my duty, and suffer all that this master sculptor inflicts on me without knowing his purpose or fretting about it.” (82)

Now that is the kind of faith and serenity that God gives us when we praise God and give Him thanks in all circumstances.

Finally, let me make two further points about gratitude, about praising God and giving Him thanks in all circumstances.

The first is this. The extent to which you and I express our gratitude to God in words and deeds tells us how deep and strong is our faith in Him.

The second is this. And it’s a warning.

St. John’s vision in the Book of Revelation tells us about worship in heaven:

. . . . All the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.” (7:11–12)

This is the warning. You and I had better learn how to praise and give thanks to God in this life, because that’s what we’ll be doing throughout eternity!

Father Ray Ryland is CUF's spiritual advisor.

Back to Homily Archive

Help us continue to provide great homilies. Click here to donate today.