Forgot to say what?

There was a recent series of television commercials in which people are able to extricate themselves from uncomfortable situations merely by blurting out, “Thank you!”

One gets the idea that these two words are so magically effective because they are not often said – or at least not said with meaning (or said with some commercial or other ulterior motive).

Today’s readings remind us of the importance of saying “Thank you” and of saying it with meaning.

In the first reading, a man is insistent on thanking the prophet Elisha for his being healed of leprosy. Elisha puts him off, helping the man realize that God is the one he must thank (and he resolves to give thankful sacrifices to the Lord ever after).

In the Gospel, only one of a group of ten lepers healed by our Lord returns to thank him. Our Lord points this out and says to the man, “Your faith has saved you.”

The first, obvious lesson of the readings is that it is important for us to thank people as part of our everyday lives.

Too often we are so rushed, so busy, and so distracted that we forget to do this - what used to be called “common courtesy.” When we forget to say “thank you,” we fail in an opportunity and a duty to affirm the good when people do it – a failure that diminishes us all.

These readings, however, do more than just remind us of the simple human virtues of courtesy and gratitude. In these expressions of human gratitude we have lessons for the divine life we embody in faith by the grace of God in Christ.

(Importantly, in these readings, we see these human virtues exemplified by individuals who did not explicitly belong to the People of God: an Aramean and a Samaritan.)

In both instances, the human virtue of gratitude becomes an occasion of grace and even salvation as the individuals' gratitude is turned more fully to God.

As for us, we need to cultivate within ourselves and within our prayer life an ever-deeper attitude of gratitude.

The more we give thanks to God – who has given us infinitely more than we deserve – the more we open ourselves to receive his grace and the more reason we have to give thanks.

It is a virtuous cycle – a spiral that takes us heavenward

Deo gratias.