Giving thanks

Recently, I read an article published by the Harvard Medical School about the fact that expressing gratitude, even when you don’t think there is a lot to be grateful for, will not only make you grateful but happier. Apparently, some people are more naturally grateful than others, which may come from having inherited a particular gene. Even if we haven’t been blessed with that gene, we can actively choose to practice gratitude and that will make us happier. Somehow the brain takes that grateful attitude, even when you can’t see a lot to be thankful for, and processes it into happiness. Choosing to focus on good things makes you feel better than focusing on the bad. It also brings out the best in others around us. 

Gratitude is, not surprisingly, the focus of our Gospel text for Thanksgiving Day.

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

Lepers at that time were societal outcasts. Their sickness was considered punishment for sin. They were expelled from the community. In effect, they had to quarantine far from others. Jesus treats the ten lepers as if they were already healed, simply sending them to the priests to fulfill the law. They act in obedient faith. They asked Jesus for the healing, so they must have had some kind of faith he could do it. Yet, he only tells the Samaritan, the one that Jesus’ hearers would not have expected, the despised foreigner, the one who came back to give thanks, “Your faith has saved you.”  It seems that Jesus is speaking about some other blessing – some healing deeper than the physical cure the Samaritan leper experienced – the gift of faith leading to an abundant and eternal life.

A person of faith cannot help but be a thankful person. We recognize where, or rather, from whom, all the blessings of this life originate. It is expressed in how we live our lives, and in how we recognize God’s gifts to us. It translates into all of us living our lives in such a way that we become a gift, a blessing, to others. Truly giving thanks means giving ourselves to others. It requires us to live out our gratitude in the service of others.

The Eucharist is the ultimate moment of giving thanks when we experience in a real way Christ’s sacrifice for us and presence within us. Each time we take in the real presence of Christ we should make a point of reflecting on what we are grateful for. When we leave the altar rail, the Christ within us calls us to take that sense of gratitude with us everywhere in service to God and others.

So Happy Thanksgiving to you all! May God bless you with grateful hearts and the desire to love and serve Him all the days of your life. 

Deacon Vern