Nine of the lepers in our Gospel display the ingratitude that we at times have within our own heart. We are truly given so much by God, and yet we never take time for prayer and to be thankful except for those moments when we find that we are in great need. When we are in great need we often live out our faith as if it were a mere snack machine. We can pass by the machine many times during the course of the day and never pay it any attention. When hunger strikes us we all of a sudden realize its presence and are able to make a choice concerning what we will receive. We also in this scenario receive what we desire in a moments notice and are never forced to wait. Despite the ingratitude of the nine lepers I am sure that if something else of unfortunate nature befell them they would return to Christ in order to be healed. Despite this reality they failed to be filled with gratitude and they banished Him from their midst at those moments when they were not in need.
Out of the ten lepers only one was willing to show his gratitude. Only one was truly changed to the point where the actions of Christ remained firmly on his mind. This one leper is an example for all of us of the gratitude that we should have for all that God has given us. We indeed should be thankful and desire to be held in communion with God, even at those moments when we are not facing a great tragedy in our life. God's presence is not restricted to moments of tragedy, but instead God is always present with the desire to enter more intimately into our life. Only one leper out of the ten was able to realize this and thus his life was forever transformed. May we allow this same leper to lead the way for us to encounter his great sense of gratitude and in return to truly allow our faith to be transformed.
You may be asking yourself what you have to be grateful for. Maybe despite all your prayers you have seen nothing besides children fallen away from the faith, the death of a loved one, a lost job, a broken marriage, or something else. Indeed each of these examples are tough to deal with, but we must keep in mind that from the cross springs forth the new life of the Resurrection. Our prayers are indeed heard, even if we do not get the quick results that we desire. Saint Monica was distraught at the lack of faith of her son, Augustine, and yet she persevered in prayer, and eventually Augustine was converted, and was even moved towards sainthood. May Saint Monica be a reminder for us of the need to have gratitude, to have trust, and to have perseverance when we return to Christ as that one leper inside of our Gospel was able to do. This unending trust can indeed be most difficult, but it is also something that can be accomplished.
So how are able to join with the grateful leper and therefore not find ourself counted as one of the other nine? We must realize that God does not work as a genie who grants wishes on demand, but instead is the loving creator of all things. This loving creator shows us His love unceasingly and we should desire to share within this love that is shown to us and to spread it to all those whom we encounter. If we desire to be truly grateful for this gift we will take time out of our busy lives to make room for prayer. We will realize that the world is a very loud place and therefore find ways to enter into silence where we will come to encounter God. We must find ways to cultivate the virtue of humility in our life because through our pride we never allow God to enter in to give us aid. We should persevere in our desire to be holy instead of so often being led astray from this most wondrous path to pursue a life of sin. We should desire to cultivate our mind with a understanding of God and our faith through study and the reading of spiritual books. A final way we show our gratitude is through the faithful reception of the Sacraments.
May we not find ourselves among those nine lepers who thanked Christ with ingratitude. The one leper who was faithful in this matter gives each of us the example of gratitude. May we indeed not only need God in moment's of tragedy, but instead may we turn to Him in great gratitude for the love that God has always' has shown us. In gratitude may we continue to find ways to faithfully live out our faith and to be drawn into union with God. In this way we will model the leper who was faithful Christ instead of the other nine who lacked faithfulness.
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