Today, Thanksgiving, is a special day to give thanks. We as Christians gives thanks in a special way in the Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek verb, “to give thanks.” Paul uses this verb in our second reading: “I give thanks to my God always on your account.” We as a parish join with Paul in giving thanks to God for his gifts of “grace and peace.” At each mass we are reminded of these gifts in Greeting that we hear at the beginning: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” God has taken the initiative and given us his gifts of his grace, love, and communion or fellowship. All God asks is that we accept these gifts and recognize God’s presence in our lives. Our thankfulness flows from this experience of God’s accepting love. As Paul tells us: “God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We live in “fellowship with his Son,” when we follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
Sometimes we can become so busy that we do not even recognize the gifts of God and fail to give God thanks and glory. In today’s Gospel ten lepers approach Jesus and instead of calling out the required words, “Unclean, unclean (Leviticus 13:45),” they petition Jesus with the words: “Jesus, Lord, have mercy on us!” Jesus shows them great compassion and they realize they are healed as they are on the way to the priest. Only one of them, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks to Jesus and to give glory and praise to God. This man is an outsider not only as a leper who must call out and declare himself, “unclean, unclean,” but also as a Samaritan. Perhaps it is this experience of being doubly an outsider that makes him more aware and wanting to give thanks.
Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving, we are called to be aware of the “outsiders” in our society, the poor, the homeless, the immigrant, and the homebound. Like Jesus in today’s Gospel, we are called to show them mercy and compassion. We truly celebrate the Eucharist and give thanks to God when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and visit the imprisoned or homebound (Matthew 25:31-46). We are the Samaritan leper in today’s Gospel, and we recognize that we have been healed and so we come running to give thanks to Jesus and to give glory and praise to God.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Image: “Happy Thanksgiving everyone!” by InaFrenzy is licensed under CC BY 2.0.