28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C October 12, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
A man was about to be late for an important meeting. Knowing that the right parking spot could make all the difference, he began to pray as he got close to the parking lot: “Lord, if you help me find the right parking space, I’ll…” Just then he spotted a place right by the door “nevermind, Lord, found one!”
That’s a classic story of being ungrateful to the Lord, but let me tell you a true story of gratitude from my own life. Once early on in seminary, I was depressed, unmotivated, and full of doubt. For whatever reason, I remembered a story of someone being grateful for small things and it cheering them up. So figured I’d try it with something very small: my toes. “Thank you Lord for my toes. Thank you for my feet. Thank you for my ankles” and so on. Long before I got to my head, I was overwhelmed. I actually felt grateful for all the little things I take for granted. I wept tears of joy and my fog of desolation lifted.
Now, I’ve never had that exact same experience again, but even without the dramatic effects, intentionally practicing gratitude has always made my life better. Even more, it’s made my faith stronger.
Consider today’s gospel. Ten people miraculously healed of a deadly disease and only one – a quasi-pagan foreigner – bothered to say thank you. His faith made him grateful and his gratitude increased his faith. That’s the kind of faith that not only healed him, but saved him.
In last week’s gospel, Jesus was instructing his apostles on how to increase their faith. I pointed out three things we can do to increase our faith: ask for it, meditate on God’s power, and practice faith through obedience to God’s commands. Well, today gives us another way to increase our faith: gratitude. Like the 9 lepers or the man trying to park, we fallen human beings tend to miss what God is doing. Or we forget. The world, our own flesh, and the devil conspire to make us forgetful of God’s power. Gratitude is the way to overcome that conspiracy.
There is a feeling called gratitude, but that word can also describe an attitude, a choice, a practice, a virtue. So, even if we don’t feel gratitude – like my seminary depression – we can choose to be grateful for something – like I was for my toes. I still am grateful for my healthy feet and legs, by the way. The fact is that we owe God everything, so there’s always something to be grateful for. In making a habit of calling to mind good things, any good things and expressing our thanks to God – whether we feel it or not – we push through the fog of selfishness and forgetfulness to reconnect with the truth that God is good. Believing his goodness and making the choice to act on that goodness by giving thanks is an act of faith, which in turn strengthens that virtue called faith.
It’s no accident, therefore, that the most important thing you can do as a Catholic is literally called “thanksgiving.” That’s the meaning of the word Eucharist – thanksgiving. You are morally obligated to go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day to give thanks to God. Even if you don’t receive communion, your prayerful attention at this solemn ritual is meant to express gratitude to God for his goodness, for our creation, for our redemption, and for the future glory of heaven promised to us.
“Go to Mass” is the most perfect form of the phrase “be grateful.” It helps to remember that when we’re tempted to say “I get nothing out of Mass.” I mean, sorry you don’t get anything out of it, but that’s kind of not the point. You go to Mass to give something, not get it. To give thanks, to give worship, to give yourself to God – that’s the reason for Mass. Now, if you do that sincerely, you usually will get something out of it… indeed, the more you go with the attitude of giving instead of getting, the more you’ll tend to get out of it.
Look back at that first reading. Naaman the Syrian – a pagan general from another country is miraculously healed by God’s prophet Elisha. How is he healed? By getting in and out of a smally dirty river seven times. Why does that heal him? Because it was an act of obedience… and act of faith. By begrudgingly trusting the prophet enough to do what he was told, this pagan foreigner gains enough supernatural faith to be miraculously healed. As I said last week, if you want more faith, then obey what God has already told you to do.
But also, notice Naaman’s response. He wants to express his gratitude by giving gifts to Elisha. Elisha refuses because he’s not the one that should be getting thanks. God is. Eventually, Naaman realizes that. So, he decides to take dirt from Israel back to Syria. Why? So he can have holy ground, so he can make a place for him to offer worship and sacrifice to God. Even the pagan leper from 3000 years ago figured out that we humans need sacred places so we can offer thanksgiving to God as worship. Today, the perfect expression of that is offering the Eucharist on the holy ground we call a Catholic Church.
Do you want more faith? One way to increase your faith is to wholeheartedly give thanks to God at Mass. Even if you cannot receive communion, you can listen to God’s word, lift up your prayers, and place your heart on this altar to be lifted up to him the most perfect form of thanksgiving and worship possible on earth. This is true even if you don’t like the priest, don’t like the music, don’t like the building, the people, or the smell… even if you don’t understand the language, you can show up, lift your heart up to God, and give thanks by worshipping him as he has asked you to worship him.
Still, that’s once a week and not everyone can make it to daily Mass. So, what should we do every other day of the week? Well, give thanks, obviously. One practical way to do that is through the “daily examen.” If you don’t already, I challenge every one of you to do it every night before bed. You might need to kneel down or stand up so you don’t fall asleep. Take a moment to recall God’s presence. A simple “I know and believe you are here” or “Come, Holy Spirit” can work. Then, mentally review your day, but don’t look for the bad or for the mistakes. Consciously look for good things, things that reminded you of God or his love for you, or perhaps things you missed in the moment but now realize are good. Then thank God for those things. If possible, talk to God about those things and see where that prayer takes you.
Only after you’ve identified the good and practiced gratitude, then you can acknowledge your sins or shortcomings. Ask for mercy and the grace to do better; pray an Act of Contrition. Then take a moment to look at tomorrow and pray for what you’ll need for it. Then close with an Our Father.
Do this daily and you’ll get better at noticing the good things, the things-to-be-grateful-for as they happen. That in turn will strengthen your awareness of God and your faith. It will also give you plenty of stuff to bring with you to the altar at Mass, to place there each week as you give him thanks in that more solemn way.
The Lord has indeed revealed to the nations his saving power. The question is, have we noticed? Have we been faithful enough and grateful enough to receive that power? And if not, are we willing to change that, to continue to change that until one day we too stand to go into eternal life, hearing those wonderful words of Jesus Christ: “your faith has saved you.”
I cannot as yet receive the Eucharist. But I go to church every Sunday and give thanks for the blessings I have been given and those I don’t even know about! To not receive anything from mass is not giving of yourself and being receptive and responsive to the Holy Spirit! I can’t wait until I can “seal the deal” and receive the body of Christ.