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 28^th SUNDAY, YEAR C: REFLECTION BY FR. JULIAN EKEH

THEME: LET US GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD

(Luke 17:11-19)

This is an invitation. We often hear it at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer and reply that it is right and just to give thanks to God. The Eucharist itself is a Greek word which means Thanksgiving. After the readings of the Liturgy, we respond " thanks be to God". At the end of the Gospel Reading when the priest says the Gospel of the Lord, our response is usually, praise be to you our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we are encouraged to give God thanks and heartfelt praise. These are His due. We are equally charged after Mass to go in peace to love and serve the Lord, and we also reply thanks be to God. Thus, we are called upon to live thankful lives, to be grateful to God by our way of living and live lives of gratitude among our fellow human beings.

Jesus asks about it. He wants us to show it. It pleases Him to hear us say thanks. Thanksgiving is that which brings us back to God again and again. That is why we gather every day and every Sunday to worship at the feet of the Lord Jesus. The Lord looks around to see if you do this thankful return. If not, He enquires where are the nine? Where are you?  Do you even find reasons to thank God? Let us give thanks to God. In the tune of Patty Obasi, I invite you: "Bianu ka anyi kele Chineke unu ndi o zoputara" (Come, let us give thanks to the Lord, hail the Lord who saves us). Because according to Harcourt Whyte: "O kwesiri inye ekele" (He is worthy of our thanks)

 

WHY THE THANKS?

We've got thousand and one reason to thank the Lord. I have my reasons to praise the Lord. You too must have numerous reasons for so doing. For life, for health, for wealth, for family, for friends, for foes. The one and only one man that returned to Jesus praising Him acknowledged the Restoration and Salvation he received from Jesus. Jesus gave him what he lost. He lost socialization with people, lost friendship of all, lost confidence and Jesus gave all these back to him. Do you have your family? Your freedom of movement which the lepers lost? Your freedom of worship which made Jesus to send them to the priest to get certificate? Wait, you have all these, it is a good reason to thank God. Thank him for your health even if you have some challenges many who are worse than you are giving thanks. Who knows how it would have been? Just give thanks. Even for your foes thank God for them, you don't know what you have achieved because of them that you would have been too complacent to achieve.

 

HOW TO THANK

The psalmist had this problem and asked: how can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? (kedu ihem ga emere Chineke, maka ihe OMA nile o mere na ndum?) He answered: "I will raise the cup of salvation and praise him; I will call on the Lord's name". Look back and recount the deeds of the Lord in your life and praise him with tears of joy. Bless the name of the Lord. Even in the Lord's prayer, Jesus took good time thanking and praising God for His goodness and love. Best way is to make yourself a living sacrifice of thankful praise unto Him, living in His presence all the days of your life and raising holy hands to Him. Don't be stingy with your time, treasure and talent. Make yourself available to him and never be too busy like the nine who immediately went their businesses forgetting they have not been doing them all along.

 

WHEN TO THANK GOD

The Lord is good all the time and all the time our Lord is good. If this is true, then we must thank God all the time for His goodness and mercy. Yes, even when we seem not to understand all that is happening. God knows the best for us, why we must pass through what we are passing through and because of that we must praise. Even in the prison like. Paul and Silas, even in the heart of the fire like the three young men. We give thanks to God for what He has done and what we believe by faith that He will do. The nine leppers failed to thank God even after the healing they received. But Harcourt Whyte praised God in his leprosy a very hopeless one. It didn't stop him from calling on us all: "Bianu ndi enyim nile... Biko were oñu toonu Chukwu si Chineke I bu Chukwu nezie."

 

LET US BE THANKFUL TO ALL

Ingratitude is a killer disease. Let us not take any good done to us as our right. Let's say thanks and live thankful. Let's be thankful to our parents for their sacrificial efforts. A good result or an award of excellence as a good student can be a good appreciation to parents and teachers. Let's be grateful to God for the Church and the state when they do well. Let us thank the people we meet on daily basis. Let's appreciate the efforts of family members. The nine others took Jesus for granted because they thought Jesus did what He should do for them. Even when people perform their duties towards us, let us still give thanks to them. Let us not kill the zeal and spirit of people who are good to us by our ungrateful words, actions and negligence. Say thanks after eating that your wife's food or mum's food. Say thanks when you receive that money or gift from your husband and don't complain about how small it is. Say thanks when you're given that your school fees by your parents or uncle.

Meanwhile, there is a thanks that is not thanks at all. Do not give the "cash or kind" type of appreciation.

May God bless His word in our hearts.

 

LET US PRAY

Oh God we are sorry for the many times we lived ungratefully to You and our fellow human beings. Accept our thanks and praise today and continue to give us reasons to thank You all the days of lives through Christ our Lord. Amen

Happy Sunday (28th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Yr C)

Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh