Sir 50:22-24 / 1 Cor 1:3-9 / Lk 17:11-19
It’s intriguing to imagine how different each of our lives might be had we been born in a different century, on a different continent, in an impoverished country, in the midst of endless wars, in a family that did not want us, in a place where no education would ever be available, in a state of chronic bad health. That’s not what happened to us, and why it did not is a mystery. But one thing we can be sure of is that not one of us earned or merited a single bit of the good fortune of the lives into which we were born!
On Thanksgiving Day, perhaps more than any other day of the year, we have a story that needs to be told, first of all to ourselves, and then to the Lord. It’s a tale of unearned blessings, especially in the form of good people who have made our lives so special and so happy.
So let us speak our story without delay, a story of countless good people each of whom brought their own special gifts of life to us. Let us name each one with reverence and gratitude to God Who gave them to us as friends and guides. And when our story is done, one more thing remains: to acknowledge the debt we owe to all these life-givers. It is nothing less than to become life-givers ourselves. That’s the only real thanks we can ever give either to God or to the generations that have gone before us. Let us give it with all our hearts and with all our might!
