(Thanksgiving 2013: This homily
was given on November 28, 2013 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr.
Raymond Suriani. Read 1 Corinthians 1:
3-9; Luke 17: 11-19.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Thanksgiving 2013]
Today’s second reading was taken
from the very beginning of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. When Jane read it a few moments ago, did you
notice anything surprising about it?
Here St. Paul mentions a number of things that he was grateful for (which,
of course, makes it a very appropriate text for Thanksgiving Day).
Apparently, when it came to giving
thanks, these were what you might call “Paul’s Priorities”. These were the kinds of things he was most grateful for.
Let me now read the text to you a
second time (just in case your memory is as short as mine is and you forgot
what Paul said). He wrote:
“I give thanks to my God always
on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in
him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as
the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in
any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He will keep you firm to the
end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, and by him you were called
to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Notice anything surprising there?
What’s surprising—and
significant—in that passage (at least I find it both surprising and
significant) is that there’s no “stuff” mentioned!
Nothing material! He doesn’t mention money; he doesn’t mention possessions;
nor does he mention physical health. He
doesn’t even mention other people as such.
Whenever Paul rendered thanks to Almighty
God, it’s very clear from this text that his “Thanksgiving priorities” were all spiritual!
Tell that to the greedy merchants
who are so obsessed with money and “stuff” that they’re now trying to make
Thanksgiving just another shopping day before Christmas! I hope no one here does any Christmas
shopping today.
Do not feed into that mentality!
Now please do not misunderstand
me here. I’m not saying that St. Paul was
ungrateful for the loving relationships he had with his fellow apostles and the
other people in his life; I’m not saying that he was ungrateful for his physical
health and his material blessings.
In other places in his letters he
makes it quite clear that he was thankful for EVERYTHING that the Lord had
given him here on earth.
But he also had his priorities
straight! He knew what was most important! He talks in this passage about the grace of
forgiveness and salvation; he talks about knowing the truth of the Gospel and
witnessing to it; he talks about spiritual gifts (the most important of which
are faith, hope and charity); and he talks about the fact that God will always
offer us the grace that we need to persevere in our relationship with Jesus so
that we can get to heaven someday.
That’s what St. Paul was most
grateful for in his own life, and in the lives of the Corinthian people.
And it’s what we should be most grateful for in our
lives.
If you’re like me, you sometimes
forget that—which is why I mention it in this homily.
Yes, we all have a lot to be
grateful for in our earthly lives—but the sad reality is that much of it is only
temporary. Our money eventually gets
spent (too quickly for a lot of us these days!); our possessions “rust and
corrode,” as Jesus indicates in the Sermon on the Mount; our health
deteriorates over time (those of us with chronic illnesses certainly know that);
and our loved ones pass away as the years go by.
However, as the very same St.
Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 13, “Faith, hope and love” last! They last until the
end.
And after “the end” they bring us
into a life that will never end!
So they are what’s most important! They (faith, hope, love—and everything that
proceeds from them) are what we should be the most grateful for—both on Thanksgiving
Day and on every other day of the year.
I hope the healed leper in
today’s gospel realized this and consequently said a second thank you to Jesus!
We know he came back to our Lord to thank him once for his physical
healing (which is, of course, exactly what he should have done). But after Jesus said to him, “Stand up and
go, your faith has saved you,” this cured Samaritan should have said another thank
you to our Lord, for imparting to him the grace of forgiveness and salvation.
And hopefully he was even more grateful
for those spiritual gifts than he was for his physical cure from leprosy, since
those spiritual gifts had the potential to bring him blessings that would far outlast
the blessing of perfect physical health!
His physical health eventually
ended and he died. We know that because
no one has seen this healed leper walking around Westerly or anywhere else on
planet earth for almost 2,000 years. But
when this man did die (probably sometime in the mid-to-late first century), his
gift of faith—if he had persevered in it—yielded a reward that is still going
on as we speak.
And it will go on forever.
If you are leading your family in
saying grace at Thanksgiving dinner later today, I ask you to try to remember
this lesson and apply it to the prayer you say.
Begin your prayer of thanks by expressing your gratitude to God for his
saving grace: for the love and mercy he has shown us in sending us his Son. Thank the Lord for his faithfulness (like
Paul did), and for his promise to help you persevere in faith when times get
difficult. Then move on to thank him for
the people he has put in your life—especially those you take for granted—and
for the many blessings that have come into your life through those people.
And then, finally, feel free to
thank God for your “stuff”—for all the material blessings that he’s showered
upon you and upon your loved ones.
Oh yes, one last thing. At the very end of the prayer, don’t forget to
do what I forgot to do one Thanksgiving: After saying this beautiful and
meaningful prayer, don’t forget to ask the Lord to bless the food!