Fighting for the Fairytale

Nora

"This is the gospel according to Luke." Fr. Joe paused, made the sign of the cross over his forehead, lips, and heart, and began to read, "As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices saying 'Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!' And when he saw them, he said, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.' As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, 'Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?' Then he said to him, 'Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.' The gospel of the Lord."

"Thanks be to God," I said, sitting down. Cole's arm immediately wrapped around me as Mom, Dad, and my little sister Brielle settled down beside us.

"Good morning, and Happy Thanksgiving," Fr. Joe said with a warm smile."I know today is not a holy day of obligation. We are not required to celebrate mass today, but I am so grateful to see so many families here to thank the Lord for all the wonderful gifts He has given us." The priest wet his lips. "When people think of Thanksgiving, they usually think of the food: turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie. I know I do."

Many in the congregation laughed. 

"Or some people think of the big football game and supporting their teams. We often forget that Thanksgiving came about when the Pilgrims and American Indians came together to share a meal of peace. The Pilgrims came to America, so they could have religious freedom. I am so thankful to live in a nation where I am not persecuted for my beliefs, and I am grateful to the Lord for all the things He has given me in this life, for without Him, I would not be here." Fr. Joe tilted his head. "The gospel reading today is one of my favorite stories in the New Testament. There were ten lepers. Ten. And how many came back to thank Jesus for the great gift of healing they received?"

A ripple of responses came from the people around us, all saying the same thing. 

"That's right." Father Joe held up one finger. "One man. Out of ten." He gripped the pulpit's sides. "I encourage us all, not just today, but every day, to be like that one leper who returned, to praise God and thank Him for all that He has done for us. It is easy to forget to be grateful when things are going well, when we are healed of our sins like those other nine lepers were. We are not perfect, but that is why we go to confession, to be cleansed, to seek that forgiveness from our Lord because we do make mistakes. God did not intend for us to be perfect. He created us in his image, yes, but we are not Him. We mess up. We stress. We get angry when things don't go the way we think they should go. 

"However, those hard times are also gifts from God that we need to thank Him for. If that one leper had not been a leper in the first place, would he have been there, in that exact moment when Jesus walked by, begging for healing? Would he have taken the opportunity to go back to Jesus to thank Him? It's possible," Fr. Joe conceded. "But more likely than not, he would not have. He was a Samaritan, an outcast. Yet with God's intervention, with Jesus's healing, he was able to form a foundation of faith in both Jesus Christ and the Father who sent Him to us. We need to do the same in our relationships with the Lord. We need to actively seek him out in our daily lives; that could mean praying to Him in thanksgiving and not just for the things we may desire or need. He has already given us this life on Earth, but the greatest treasure that God has given to us is still yet to come: eternal life with Him in Heaven. Let us not forget to thank the Lord for that wonderful sacrifice He made for us as we take a second helping of mashed potatoes." Fr. Joe smiled and invited us to stand. 

I'm going to give you more of my time, Lord, I promised as mass continued. I haven't been doing that enough lately. I'm sorry. But I'm going to be better. I'm going to be more thankful, more thoughtful in my prayers to you.