Luke 7:11-19

In life, one of the first lessons we learn is to say “Thank you.” If we received a gift from our ninong and ninang, our parents reminded us, “What do you say?” Whenever our teacher in school would leave the classroom we all stood up and said, “Good bye and thank you teacher.”

Sadly, nowadays, how many people say thank you? Try holding a door for someone in a mall, or try offering a seat in the bus or the MRT, and see how many “thank yous” you will get.

In the Gospel, ten lepers were healed and only one returned to Jesus and said “Thank you!” Ironically, it was the only foreigner who came back to show gratitude.

Today, three reflections about Gratitude.

1. Goodness. When we say thank you we recognize and acknowledge that we are beneficiaries of goodness of people. Yes, there are good people out there and there is also goodness out there. This is a very good antidote from the negativity that goes around.
   
2. Humility. When we say thank you we humbly remind ourselves that we cannot do it all and that we need other people. No matter how talented and no matter how rich, we still need others. 
   
3. It is not going to be there forever. There is a saying that we only realize the value of a person or a thing when it is not there anymore. In other words, being grateful is also a reminder that one of these days, we are going to say goodbye to people and to things, yet we are grateful that they have been part of our lives.

We realize that the Mass itself is a form of Thanksgiving. Hence, when we bring our prayers to the Lord, we are not only hopeful but we are also grateful, because of the many marvelous things that the Lord does for us.