Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 - Wednesday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[Titus 3:1-7 and Luke 17:11-19]And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. 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]
NOVEMBER 11 ST. MARTIN OF TOURS
Just as the passage in today's first scripture appears at one of the Masses on Christmas Day (along with the one from yesterday), the gospel for today appears on Thanksgiving Day! Gratitude is at the center of that day and this gospel story. The only one of the ten lepers to return and thank Jesus for healing him turned out to be the least expected one, a Samaritan! (cf. Luke 10:29-37!].
Most of us at one time or another will have both the experience of being thanked when we least expected it, or of not being thanked when we most expected gratitude! Jesus experienced both in this incident. One of the complaints that I hear from parents and grandparents is that their children and grandchildren seem to take for granted anything done for them by their parents and grandparents. Maybe there's a quick polite and perfunctory "Thanks" but the focus remains on the favor or gift and not on the generosity of the giver. If someone were to ask me what the most important lesson I learned from my parents is, I would certainly rank "saying 'Thank you!'" near or at the top of the list. Both the feeling and expression are important. If we are unable to feel gratitude when it is due, the expression is empty. But if the expression is missing, the relationship suffers.
There will be more to say about this on Thanksgiving Day, no doubt. Jesus calls our attention to the situation by asking, "What's missing from this picture?" when the least expected former leper returns to say, "Thank you!" AMEN