Thursday, October 10, 2013

Reflections on Luke 17:11-19

We have been worshiping Jesus as the Son of God for two thousand years. It is easy to forget that he had and has a human heart with feelings. In the Breviary recited by priests, religious and some lay persons there is a lovely prayer which I will paraphrase... "though the entire universe is yours you still delight in such tokens as human beings can give...." Yes, Jesus DELIGHTS in what we say and ask, but I think, especially, in our thanks. When we are grateful we give joy to the object of our gratitude, but that is almost nothing compared with what happens in our own hearts. We become humble, gentle, peaceful. We relax because others are also doing good. The functioning of the world is not exclusively on our shoulders. The most spiritual thing that humans who are non believers do is thank... They thank those they love as we all do. The greatest joy, however, is to thank the Creator of the Universe, for the sunrise or sunset, for life, for each new day, for the squirrel that does remarkable acrobatics on the very tip of a branch of an oak tree. We can change the world, our family, our community, and ourselves by just being generous with expressions of sincere thankfulness.