Homily for Luke 17: 11-19
Thanksgiving, 11/18/19
I recently heard an amazing story on the radio about someone whose life was saved by gratitude. It seems a man was standing on a train platform, waiting to board a subway. The train was approaching, and he was preparing to board when suddenly, another man waiting to board the train had a seizure. He became unconscious and fell off the platform onto the train tracks below. None of the horrified onlookers on the platform knew what to do. The train was approaching in less than a minute. So the first man jumped down from the platform onto the tracks to try to help the man. He tried to lift him, but he couldn’t. The train was bearing down on them. So he rolled the man between the rails of the train tracks and laid down on top of him, pressing his body down as flat as he could, between the rails of the track. All the people on the platform were screaming, as the train ran right over where they were lying. When the train came to a stop, there was a terrified silence, until a voice came from under the train, saying, “We’re all right, we’re all right! Please get us out from under here.”
When the police later interviewed the hero, he told them another dramatic story. They asked what had possessed him to jump down on those tracks. He recounted how he had, years before, been in a situation in which someone was holding a gun to this rescuer’s head. The person holding the gun actually pulled the trigger to shoot him, but the gun malfunctioned, and he was able to escape. He said that ever since that day, he had prayed to God about why he had been spared. He concluded that God had some purpose for him, that there was something else God needed him to do. That day on the train platform, he knew what it was. Without thinking twice, he saw someone who needed help, and put his own life on the line to help him. That day gratitude saved a life.
Turning to today’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus cured ten people of leprosy, in other words, ended their affliction of a painful, contagious skin disease, but also of being ritually unclean. So Jesus enabled these ten to return to the life of the community. When the one man who had had leprosy returned to thank him, Jesus said that “Ten were cleansed.” But to the one who returned, he said, “You are saved. Your faith has saved you.” So this another example of being saved by gratitude.
So what is gratitude? I think gratitude is admitting that all our blessings, every breath of air we are able to draw, in fact, is a gift from God. That everything we have is by God’s generous grace. We work hard and do good works, but it’s because God has first loved us. Gratitude unites us, because we understand that, since there is no way we can earn God’s freely given grace, the only thing we can do to demonstrate our gratitude is to share our blessings, to pass that grace on to people who need it. We are all able to help somebody somehow, and we need to be alert for ways to reach out. Giving Tuesday is coming up, that’s a good chance. We are planning to invite some guest speakers in the next few months who will offer some good opportunities too.
These days our Earth is facing really urgent climate changes. We need to try to do all we can to share our gratitude for the blessing of the beautiful planet God has given us. The Sunday before we all roast and eat big turkeys is probably not the most diplomatic time to bring up this subject, but one way of decreasing our personal environmental impact is to eat less meat. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released a new report on Oct. 8 warning of catastrophic changes to the earth’s ecosystem by as early as 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present rate. Their 2013 report had stated that animals raised for meat create more greenhouse gases than all cars, boats, trucks, and planes combined. Meat production occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land, uses 16% of the earth’s fresh water, and consumes 1/3 of worldwide grain production. We can’t all alter our diets, but those of us who can might want to consider, after the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, eating more plants.
So what does gratitude mean in your life?
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RCWP
Thanksgiving, 11/18/19
I recently heard an amazing story on the radio about someone whose life was saved by gratitude. It seems a man was standing on a train platform, waiting to board a subway. The train was approaching, and he was preparing to board when suddenly, another man waiting to board the train had a seizure. He became unconscious and fell off the platform onto the train tracks below. None of the horrified onlookers on the platform knew what to do. The train was approaching in less than a minute. So the first man jumped down from the platform onto the tracks to try to help the man. He tried to lift him, but he couldn’t. The train was bearing down on them. So he rolled the man between the rails of the train tracks and laid down on top of him, pressing his body down as flat as he could, between the rails of the track. All the people on the platform were screaming, as the train ran right over where they were lying. When the train came to a stop, there was a terrified silence, until a voice came from under the train, saying, “We’re all right, we’re all right! Please get us out from under here.”
When the police later interviewed the hero, he told them another dramatic story. They asked what had possessed him to jump down on those tracks. He recounted how he had, years before, been in a situation in which someone was holding a gun to this rescuer’s head. The person holding the gun actually pulled the trigger to shoot him, but the gun malfunctioned, and he was able to escape. He said that ever since that day, he had prayed to God about why he had been spared. He concluded that God had some purpose for him, that there was something else God needed him to do. That day on the train platform, he knew what it was. Without thinking twice, he saw someone who needed help, and put his own life on the line to help him. That day gratitude saved a life.
Turning to today’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus cured ten people of leprosy, in other words, ended their affliction of a painful, contagious skin disease, but also of being ritually unclean. So Jesus enabled these ten to return to the life of the community. When the one man who had had leprosy returned to thank him, Jesus said that “Ten were cleansed.” But to the one who returned, he said, “You are saved. Your faith has saved you.” So this another example of being saved by gratitude.
So what is gratitude? I think gratitude is admitting that all our blessings, every breath of air we are able to draw, in fact, is a gift from God. That everything we have is by God’s generous grace. We work hard and do good works, but it’s because God has first loved us. Gratitude unites us, because we understand that, since there is no way we can earn God’s freely given grace, the only thing we can do to demonstrate our gratitude is to share our blessings, to pass that grace on to people who need it. We are all able to help somebody somehow, and we need to be alert for ways to reach out. Giving Tuesday is coming up, that’s a good chance. We are planning to invite some guest speakers in the next few months who will offer some good opportunities too.
These days our Earth is facing really urgent climate changes. We need to try to do all we can to share our gratitude for the blessing of the beautiful planet God has given us. The Sunday before we all roast and eat big turkeys is probably not the most diplomatic time to bring up this subject, but one way of decreasing our personal environmental impact is to eat less meat. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released a new report on Oct. 8 warning of catastrophic changes to the earth’s ecosystem by as early as 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present rate. Their 2013 report had stated that animals raised for meat create more greenhouse gases than all cars, boats, trucks, and planes combined. Meat production occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land, uses 16% of the earth’s fresh water, and consumes 1/3 of worldwide grain production. We can’t all alter our diets, but those of us who can might want to consider, after the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, eating more plants.
So what does gratitude mean in your life?
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RCWP
RSS Feed
