28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Earlier in my priesthood, I was a hospital chaplain at Sturdy Hospital in Attleboro. During those years, whenever I got a message that a patient wanted to see me it was usually a rather ominous sign. More often than not the patient had gotten some bad news about their illness. They were fearful and anxious in some way and felt they needed spiritual support. At those times I had to brace myself to be supportive and understanding. I needed to prepare myself to listen closely to their concerns and not minimize what they were feeling. That was how I prepared myself one day when a nurse approached me in the corridor and told me, “Father, the patient in 317 wants to see you.”

I went to the room and as I came through the door I saw a woman in her late sixties sitting upright in the bed next to the window. She caught sight of me and immediately motioned for me to come towards her. She said, “Come in, come in Father! Boy am I glad to see you! Sit right down here on the bed!” She pushed herself up straighter in bed and patted for me to sit beside her on its edge.  

Before I even got to sit down she said to me, “Father I want you to say a prayer with me. I want to say a prayer in thanksgiving to God! The doctor was just in and gave me the biopsy report. Everything is clean! I don’t have cancer! I’m so happy and relieved I just want to thank God so much for my health! I’m so happy!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself a bit as she shared her overwhelming sense of joy and thanksgiving. She was just so thankful to God! We said a few prayers together and thanked God for her good news and her feeling of relief and joy. We had a nice friendly visit and talked about what she would be doing now that her health was not in question.

As I left the room it struck me how seldom I was asked to offer prayers of thanksgiving in the hospital. In my experience, I offered prayers asking for God’s healing intercession 1000 times more often than I ever offered prayers of thanksgiving. Often patients prayed requests for God to watch over them and bring them healing but it was rare that they asked me to offer prayers of thanks to God for having sent healing graces to them. All too often all of us willingly accept God’s intervention in our lives but neglect to offer thanks to God when we receive His blessings.

So often we are like the nine lepers. We get what we need and then we are on our way. We never come back to thank God for the healing, love, and mercy that He has given us. When we get what we want from God we are all too eager to quickly get back to our routine. We are in a hurry to return to our family and friends. We want to be restored to our job and hobbies so quickly that we fail to take the time to thank God for the good that He has done for us. We feel entitled to receive all the good life has to offer. 

We are all too ready to take God’s goodness for granted. Somehow we tend to think God’s care for us is something God owes us. We tend to forget God is always active in our lives. God shouldn’t be just a powerful force we summon to be with us when we have a need and forgotten until our next emergency. God is a faithful God. God is a God who is present at our side every minute of our existence, watching over us and caring for us. 

Therefore we should always be giving thanks to God. We should be thanking God not just when God brings healing to us or sends us the answer to our complex needs. We shouldn’t be thanking God just when we feel His activity in our lives. We should be thanking God every day. 

As a child, we are all taught to examine our conscience every day. I was taught to reflect on my actions just before bedtime every evening. I was taught to look back at my day and see the incidents during the day where I might have sinned. I was taught to look for the occasions when I didn’t live up to being who God called me to be. In recent years though I have been changing that examination. Instead of only examining my day for sins, I have been reviewing it to see the ways God has been active in my life that day. I have reflected on the people God has sent into my path to help me in small ways. I recall those who were kind to me or supported me. 

In this examination, I have looked to see how God has been protecting me from accidents as I drove along and I have stopped to thank God. I have recognized God has also put people in my life for me to help. God has allowed me the opportunity to imitate Jesus Christ and I have expressed thanks to God. I have recognized times when I have been angry but found a way to deal with that anger without hurting others. For them, I have given God thanks.

Trying to recognize the many things God has done for me during a given day has helped me to see when I have fallen into sin. Recognizing the ways God has blessed me every day helps me to see my sinfulness more clearly. It helps me to recognize the ways I fall short of my desire to be as much like Christ as I possibly can be. It is in seeing the many ways God has blessed me I get to realize just how generous God is to me and how thankful I need to be.

Today the scripture asks us to take the time to recognize how often we need to stop to thank God. The scripture tells us salvation will be ours if we take the time to thank God. Thank God not just for the big things like healing or deliverance from a painful situation in our lives, but for small things that are so easy to overlook.  We need to be thankful not just for our health and well-being but for everything that we cherish because it all comes from God. 

Today take time to recognize all you have and how it is a gift from God. Give thanks to God for all the gifts of time, talent, and treasure, which He has given you. The way to show our thanks for God’s gifts is by sharing those gifts with God’s people. Share your time with people who need an attentive ear. Share time with people who are lonely, troubled, or experiencing loss and sorrow. Use some of God’s gifts of time to help others know they are still valued and not a burden to us.

Make an effort to share our talents with the young. Give them some of your wisdom. Yes, it might seem they ignore it but in the future, they will recall your willing guidance and your wisdom will influence them. Offer your skills so others will be encouraged to develop and share their gifts in the future. By sharing our treasure- the material gifts God has given to us- with the Church, we help spread the Gospel message. We facilitate the Gospel being preached unchained as Paul told Timothy in today’s second reading.

Today don’t wait for a profound happening to cause you to show your thanks to God. Don’t wait to be healed of an illness or deliverance from a perilous situation to prompt you to thank God. Thank God for every blessing you receive every day.

In a few minutes, we will come forward to receive the Eucharist. We will receive the greatest gift God has to offer us all. We come to receive the gift of the Body and Blood of His son Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is God’s way of being present to us to show His love for us all. As we receive this Eucharist may we fully appreciate and give gratitude to God for this blessing. Today and all this coming week resolve to give God glory and thanks for the many ways God has healed and been generous to us. Rejoice in all God’s blessings.