Sirach 50:22–24
1 Corinthians 1:3–9
Luke 17:11–19
The gospel today is a selection from the travel narrative of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem passing through Samaria. Perhaps it is preserved for those of us on the journey of life with Jesus. It has something to say about journeying. The Thanksgiving Day in the US has something of the notion of journeying about it also. In the mists of the origins of the first thanksgiving, we find people called ‘pilgrims’. Though they themselves never used that name, it has become a popular designation. But a pilgrim is one on a journey. The English on the Mayflower saw themselves as journeying to a foreign land. They gave thanks for their safe arrival and the first fruits of the land.
The gospel story hints at how we might best journey. American Thanksgiving day is fundamentally a day to be the foreigner in the story, to be the Samaritan. All of us are in some way foreigners here. Our ancestors or we came here from some other place. And the land on which we now live was already home to others. What sets apart the foreigner in the gospel story is rather simple: he knew he was a foreigner. He was different from the others in that he did not take Jesus’ word and the healing for granted. We could ask the same question of the others that Jesus did. Why do they not give thanks? Maybe they took Jesus for granted; his healing powers were for them; it was their due, their right. Jesus was one of them. He did what he was supposed to do. The foreigner did not take Jesus for granted and so came to say thank you. He understood his restored condition as pure gift, a gift that needed to be acknowledged. Notice that in acknowledging his being cleansed Jesus continues to gift him with salvation, with freedom. It was his inner self that we healed and restored.
When one has an abundance of things, especially material things, it is easy to take them for granted. It is also easy to take some non-material things for granted like virtue and life values: such as liberty, reasonable security, the freedom to speak one mind without recrimination, the right to worship in one’s tradition. These can be taken for granted also. When that happens then gratitude slips almost out of sight. Complacency, forgetfulness even arrogance and entitlement take over. And at its worse, the material things are no longer gifts but things and people to be dominated over. And the values become turned in on oneself. Being grateful is more than saying words; it is an attitude, it is a way of life; it is an expression of humility: like the Samaritan who goes to his knees before Jesus, overwhelmed at what gift Jesus has offered him simply because he cried out.
The Thanksgiving tradition in the USA is permanently bound up with a meal. Thanksgiving means sharing food with others. Thanksgiving means communion. It is a day of being together, a day of recognizing bonds, bonds of love and caring. Thanksgiving is a time of solidarity with other human beings. It begins where we have experienced being loved and nurtured.
For us Christians Eucharist is our weekly Thanksgiving. And it too is about communion and bonds. Here we come before Jesus, the Master, the one who can tell us to stand up and get on with life—The Jesus who says that sharing in this meal is a share in freedom and hope. For us the Eucharist is a sign that our fellowship with Jesus is strong and clear. But our presence must be more than a take it for granted attitude like the nine in the gospel journey story. The Eucharist comes real because we realize, like the foreigner, how grace has worked in our lives, both materially and spiritually. Jesus is present because we are present to ourselves.
Thanksgiving Day with Eucharist is being bound together again by the food that Jesus offers. It is communion with him, as we understand that everything in our life is gift: relationships, the earth, the home, community, the universe and its galaxies. Thanksgiving is the moment to realize that we can take nothing for granted. All life is gift. And only with gratitude will we be able to continue our earthly pilgrimage when shadows darken the way, even the shadow of death. But then, it is precisely in the heart of that shadow that we celebrate Eucharist and take food for our journey. For with this Eucharistic food in us, we extend thanksgiving into the threads of our daily pilgrimage toward the Kingdom.
Let us give thanks….
~Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB