+Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude.

 

THANKSGIVING DAY 2022

 

 

As we gather on Thanksgiving Day, this national holiday that expresses very well the spiritual roots of our nation.  We are at our best as Americans when we are grateful to God, grateful to one another, and grateful for the blessings we enjoy as a nation.  We are at our best as a nation not by the force of our military might, but when we in humility give thanks for the incredible blessings that we enjoy.

 

In the words of the psalmist:

 

          Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord,

          And let your faithful bless you.

 

Gratitude is always our best response to the blessings of life.

 

The great St Augustine preached: “When you say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ we profess ourselves to be God’s beggars.”  May we never be ashamed as seeing ourselves as God’s beggars.  No matter how rich we may be on earth, we are still God’s beggars.  And gratitude puts us in right relationship to our loving and giving God.

 

In our prayer on Thanksgiving Day and every day, may we be dripping, even drowning, in our focus on grace and gratitude.  Human life is a gift.  This gift is made in the image and likeness of God.  All life is created by God, not by us.  We must treat each other and the world we share like the precious gift it is. 

 

From the Book of Sirach:

 

          Bless the God of all, who fosters people’s growth, from our mother’s womb.  May God give you joy of heart and may peace abide with you.

 

Joy and Gratitude are our response to God’s blessings.

 

As we gather with our families and as we gather now as a parish family, joy and gratitude are our posture in which we live our lives.

 

I look forward and treasure time with family today as do you.  May we have the genes of gratitude and joy throughout the day.  I can predict that everything won’t be perfect.  Resist the flight to a bevy of “could have been or should have done” and stay in the blessed lane that we are grateful for the giftedness of life and the giftedness we share with each other today.

 

May we and especially the mothers in our midst be conscious of the gift of life that has come from your womb and how you have shared in the mystery of life that comes from God.

 

In the second Scripture reading from St Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians: 

“Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus.”

 

Paul is giving thanks for his parish family in Corinth.  We too give thanks for our parish family of St. Joseph’s.  We are so blessed with so many loving and giving families that enrich and inspire each other.  In Eucharist, we give thanks to the Lord our God as a community.  We pray best as a community of believers.  This is God’s plan for us to be a parish family invested in the life and holiness of each other.

 

In the Gospels, Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude.

 

May we be mindful that Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude – grateful for the love of His heavenly father, and he showed that gratitude in his living and dying witnessing to the Father’s love.

 

In the stories that Jesus told and in the story that Jesus lived, gratitude to His heavenly Father was at the center of the Lord’s life.  Jesus was always grateful for his disciples.  We are among the disciples Jesus is grateful for.

 

Jesus’ message in today’s Gospel passage is that gratitude is the way to find and experience true joy of heart.  The grace of gratitude, the life posture of gratitude creates an open and truly receptive heart.

 

In the Gospel in the healing of the ten lepers when only one came back to give thanks, implicit in this episode is the idea that something is missing.  Giving thanks is a vital and necessary part of our relationship with God.  For thankfulness is a measure of faith, a measure of our dependence on God and of our own humility.

Physical healing of leprosy is a great blessing no doubt.  An even greater blessing is the healing of relationships and experiencing the friendship and the salvific love of Jesus that is offered to us.  The Samaritan received a healing far greater that a physical healing when he came back to Jesus to give thanks.  Yes, we desire physical health, but may our greater desire be for spiritual health that comes from encountering the Lord with grateful hearts.

 

 

We express our gratitude in the context of the Eucharist in which we give thanks to the Lord our God.  This day expresses our spiritual roots not only as a nation but also as a Church, as the disciples of Jesus.  This day is not a holy day of obligation; rather this day is a holy day of opportunity.  It’s an opportunity to think back on what we have been given…and to give something in return:  thanks and gratitude.  We are here to honor with grateful hearts what God has done for us.

 

On this Thanksgiving morning, may we as a faith community ask for the grace that our community life will always be marked by a radical gratitude to our loving God.   May we be mindful that Jesus is the great teacher of gratitude – grateful for the love of His heavenly father, and he showed that gratitude in his living and dying witnessing to the Father’s love.

 

God give you peace and have a Blessed Day of Thanksgiving.