11/26/2015 – Thanksgiving Day – Luke 17:11-19

      Our Gospel tells us that 10 lepers were cleansed of their affliction after they pleaded and begged Jesus to heal them.  Yet, only one of them returns to give thanks and to glorify God.  In our crazy, hectic lives, it is often easy to take things for granted, to forget to give thanks and to hurry on our way.  God calls us to be thankful wherever we are in our lives, even in difficult circumstances.  The leper who returned to give thanks was even more of an outcast when compared to the other lepers, for he was a Samaritan, a group that was shunned by the Jews of Ancient Israel.  Yet, in his heart, he truly was thankful to God.  One of my favorite quotes from a saint is from Meister Eckhart, a Dominican priest from the 13^th century: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”  What a wonderful quote.  And what a wonderful way approach our journey through life. Nevertheless, we live in an era when giving thanks and showing gratitude is perhaps a lost art.

      Today, we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving to be thankful for our country, our families and our friends, and for the blessings we have in our lives, even thought there a lot of Americans who will not say a prayer today nor will they enter a house of worship today.  We are all gathered here today at St James Catholic Church here in Tupelo, Mississippi to give thanks in a very Catholic way, for our commemoration of Christ’s last supper and the Eucharist.  In fact, the word “Eucharist” comes for a Greek that means “to give thanks.”  Every time we come to mass, we celebrate around the Lord’s table, giving thanks and praises to God, so all of those days should be a days of thanksgiving for us. 

      When the lepers ask Jesus to cleanse them, he tells them to go to show themselves to the priests. Jesus calls them to action. And when the one leper comes back to give thanks, Jesus sends him back out into the world as well.  In our thanksgiving, we are called to action, not to remain complacent or inactive. As we get ready to enter the holy season of Advent and the Year of Mercy, perhaps God is calling us in a special way to go beyond ourselves and to reach out to someone in an action of mercy or charity or kindness.

        Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving is a national holiday, let us see it as much more than that.  As we celebrate with food and fellowship with our families and friends, let us acknowledge that we are not thanking ourselves and not thanking any of the false gods or idols we have made in our lives.   We give thanks to God today.  We give many thanks to him.