Homily for the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Some years ago I was with a few priests enjoying a Sunday meal together, and somehow the topic of conversation moved onto what we are grateful for.  One of them said, “A day without pain”, and another said, “Waking up in the morning”.  I was a bit surprised, as these are things I normally take for granted.  There are literally so many things that we don’t even notice, but we should really be grateful.

Take the lepers in the Gospel.  For those of us in good health, especially if we are young, we normally don’t think much about it.  But for the ten lepers, good health was something that they longed for.  Leprosy today is curable, but back in the time of the Gospel it was not.  Genuine leprosy would mean just steady decline, with no hope of recovery.  So you can imagine how they must have greeted the news that Jesus was in their area, and that he had cured people of leprosy before.

After they were cured, why did only one return to give thanks?  How frightfully bad-mannered of them!  But it might have been that they were so overjoyed that it didn’t occur to them.  I remember as a child thinking that on Christmas Day it would be good to say a prayer to thank God for my presents, but on the day itself I was so excited about the presents that I completely forgot all about it.

In the first reading, though, Naaman the Syrian is much more thankful, and his healing also leads to his conversion:  “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel … [From] now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord.”  Hardship and suffering can lead to conversion.  In the second reading, St Paul says that he is glad to undergo suffering for the sake of those chosen by God, “that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”.  So our own suffering can be a positive thing.  In fact, St Paul also encourages all those reading or hearing his letter being read to witness to their faith in Christ, even though it might mean being ridiculed or persecuted.  The Gospel Acclamation says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”.  So that means that we give thanks for all the blessings we receive, but also the hardships as well.  It can be difficult at times, but good can still come out of it, including people’s conversion.

It’s in the saints that we see this really take off and have its effects.  Many have heard of St Maximilian Kolbe because he gave his life at Auschwitz to save a man with a family from being executed instead.  Without him doing that, many would never have heard of him, but now it means that his life is studied in schools, people read about it and see that it was his deep love for Christ and His Mother Mary that enabled him to do that.  As a Franciscan priest, he had led missions in different parts of the world, including Japan and Germany, and it was because of his fearless witness to the truth that he was sent to Auschwitz.

Mother Theresa is known the world over for her work with the suffering and dying in Calcutta, ministering to the “poorest of the poor” and living in the same conditions as them.  Her virtue and her willingness to enter into the suffering of the people there shines out like a beacon in a world where many are accused of being selfish.  By studying her life, we see that it is her great love for Jesus crucified, and Jesus present in the tabernacle, that enabled her and her sisters to show such love to others.  In order to love yourself, you need to have been loved first.  And there’s no greater love than that of Christ on the Cross and Christ staying with us day and night in the tabernacle.

Can we be more grateful?  How much time do we spend thanking God each day?  I remember years ago, before I became a priest, going to a celebratory Mass for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ.  They are a Nigerian order, and as part of the Mass they sang various hymns and songs from their own country.  One of them was at the Offertory, where, as the bread and wine were brought up to the altar, together with various fruit and vegetables, one of the lines in the hymn was “we are very, very grateful”.  Maybe one thing we can bring back into our regular practice is not only saying grace before meals, but also saying grace after meals, thanking God for the food we have received.  There is also, in some households, the practice of adding a prayer for the faithful departed:  “May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace”.  I’m told it’s an Irish custom, which has its origin from the time of the potato famine.  We are grateful, Lord, that we have food, and we pray for those that have died because they didn’t have food.

Thankfulness – it’s more than just good manners.  When we see how many blessings we truly have, really, our only response can be that of gratitude.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk