Gratitude as a Way of Life!

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Thanksgiving Day!

Sir 50:22-24; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Lk 17:11-19

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day!

As we are gearing up, our celebrations should not distance us from the original meaning of the day – to remember and thank those who were or offered our life’s planks. In that sense, this day is also a day of re-collection.

All of us have ‘people’ we are grateful for! How often do we let them know we are grateful for their contribution?

In today’s Gospel, we find ‘only’ the Samaritan returning to thank the Lord, though all ten were healed by Jesus. 

When all others seem to forget the one who healed them, this Samaritan remembers and relives the shame that he carried all his life because of his blindness. The recollection of his past is so compelling that he cannot but thank the Lord for the cure. 

Can we not reasonably conclude that the Samaritan must have met with the temple priests before? 

The Samaritan realizes that it was the power of Jesus’ ‘words’ that gave him healing. 

When it comes to saying thanks, the Samaritan does not attempt to contain the joy that he experienced from the healing. The Samaritan returns to Jesus, ‘glorifying God in a loud voice.’ He teaches how we should manifest and live out gratitude in our lives!

Who are we grateful to? 

How have we let the person or people know that we are grateful to them? 

How can we make gratitude a way of life, transcending the rituals or ceremonies that surround the day? 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar