Thanksgiving Day
On this day of giving thanks, we are presented with the gospel from Luke (17: 11-19) of the Healing of the Ten Lepers. Each year this gospel reading is offered for Thanksgiving Day mass and can be a challenging reminder of the importance of returning to God in thanks and praise, whether in thanks for healing or other blessings. In the past I have reflected on the one leper’s realization that he had been healed, something that we sometimes miss in our own lives. I have reflected on how we might miss that a gradual healing or answer to prayer has occurred if we don’t stop from our busyness and distractions to take the time to pray, listen, reflect, and notice how God is working and moving and healing in our midst.
Today, however, I’ve been drawn to something else in this passage. In response the lepers’ cry to Jesus, he does not immediately heal them; rather, he instructs them to go and show themselves to the priests. It is while “they were going” that they were cleansed and healed. It was an act of faith for the lepers to listen to Jesus and do as he instructed without knowing what the outcome would be. The priests were the ones who would have to declare them “clean,” and they began that journey without first being healed. Yet, it was “as they were going” that they were healed. This was an act of faith – really, many steps in faith - that allowed them to experience the healing of Jesus that at the outset they could not realize had already begun.
I know it’s not always easy to take that step in faith. Or maybe we take the first step or two and then falter as questions and doubts creep in. Do we keep walking in faith even before we can “see” the results, or do we give up in discouragement and disappointment, losing faith that our cries have been heard?
Jesus responds to the one who returned in thanksgiving, “your faith has saved you.” We don’t really know if the other nine realized they too had been healed, or how long it might have taken them to realize it, or even if they attributed their healing to Jesus. But here is one who realizes and humbly returns, giving thanks and praise to Jesus for this healing.
Today’s first reading from Sirach (50: 22-24) blesses God, “Who fosters people’s growth from their mother’s womb.” We have not been forgotten! God cares about us and has not only created us, but loves us and has fostered our growth (our whole being) since before we were born. May this reminder strengthen and encourage us in our walk of faith. For this and all that we have to be thankful for, let us pray the words of today's psalm (145), "Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you."
Eileen Miller