06-Oct-2013 We all like to receive gifts and when we receive them we are quick to open the gift wrapping to find out what gift we have received. If it is a gift we desired and wanted very much we are absolutely taken up by the gift and cherish it. But sometimes we feel that we merited the gift and deserved the gift we have received. But a gift is no gift if we have earned it! A grateful heart is never sad because everything is truly a gift! Have a grateful weekend counting your many blessings and expressing thanks! Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: 28th Sunday of the Year - 'Gratitude is memory of the heart' 13-Oct-2013 2 Kings 5: 14-17; 2 Timothy 2: 8-13; Luke 17: 11-19; The first reading speaks of the healing of Naaman the leper by the prophet Elisha and his deep gratitude that he shows for the healing he has experienced. He wishes to express his gratitude by offering a gift, and when the prophet refuses the gift, he shows his thanks by carrying back soil on which to erect an altar to the true God. What is remarkable is that Naaman is a foreigner, a pagan who acknowledges the true God, while the Israelites refuse to acknowledge and worship their true God, but go after pagan Gods! The response psalm expresses the thanks of both Naaman and the leper, as well as the gratitude of the Church, for the gift of salvation in Christ. "Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders." Showing Gratitude Byron Dell grew up on a farm in Nebraska. When he was eight years old, he had a pony named Frisky. Sometimes the pony lived up to its name. One morning when Byron was getting the cows, Frisky bolted at breakneck speed. Byron held on for dear life, and emerged unhurt. That night Byron's father accompanied him upstairs to bed and asked his son to kneel with him and thank God that he was not hurt. There besides Byron's bed the father prayed out aloud a spontaneous prayer of thanksgiving to God. That incident happened 55 years ago, but Byron never forgot it. It moved him deeply and gave him a greater appreciation of his father. Above all, it taught him to be grateful. And ever since, he has made gratitude to God a regular part of his life. Mark Link in "Sunday Homilies" Today's gospel tells us that Jesus was travelling to Jerusalem along the border between Samaria and Galilee. It was not a common road used by people and lepers were there as they could not be seen where most people dwelt. They stood far off and pleaded their case: "Jesus, master, have pity on us!" The lepers were outcasts of society and people avoided them but Jesus notices them and acknowledges their plea. However, he does not heal them immediately. He asks them to go and show themselves to the priest, as that was ritual to be followed according to the law. All ten of them follow the command of Jesus and all ten of them as they go to the priest, are cured of their illness. Surely they would be excited and delighted at their good fortune and all of them are so happy that they go perhaps to meet their family and friends to share the good news. They are caught up by their cure but they forget the healer. Only one, a Samaritan, remembers his benefactor and comes back to thank Jesus. He falls at his feet and thanks him. The other nine saw Jesus only as a wonder worker who healed them. The Samaritan realized who Jesus was: the Messiah and Saviour. To him Jesus says, "Get up and go your way; your faith has made you well." Ten lepers were healed outwardly but only one was healed inwardly. While we are grateful for the gifts we have received it is not enough to revel in the gifts and enjoy the gifts, we have to go to the source of the gifts: Jesus. The most effective way to come to gratitude is to remember 'where we came from'. Annual Thanksgiving Letter In 1939, Sgt. Robert Mac Cormack saved the life of his commanding officer, Mayor Harry Parkin, on a battlefield in France. He has just received his thirty-fifty annual letter of thanks from Parkin, now an estate agent in Richmond, Yorkshire. "Dear Bob," Parkin wrote, "I want to thank you for the thirty five years of my life which ordinarily I would not have had were it not for you. I am grateful to you." -Yes, gratitude is the memory of the heart. We are often accustomed to turn to God in trouble and forget him when things go well. Day after day we experience God's blessings and care, but are we grateful to him? Antony Kolencherry in 'Living the Word' Schindler's List Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist, who during World War II, single-handedly and tenaciously saved thousands of Polish Jews from the horrors and brutalities of incarceration in the diabolical concentration camps. As the war ended, the defeated Germans pulled out of Poland and the people eagerly awaited the arrival of the Russians. But just before the Russians arrived, Oskar Schindler, fearing for his safety, decided to flee westwards as well. When word got around that Oskar Schindler was planning to leave, the people he saved rallied together and began to discuss ways and means to express their heartfelt gratitude. But they had little to offer him. Suddenly, one man opened his mouth and pointed to the gold bridge-work on his teeth. "Take this please, and give it to Oskar." That was indeed a very noble gesture, but the people would not hear of it. "Please," begged the man, "please take it away. Were it not for Oskar, the SS would have taken it anyway. And my teeth would have been in a heap in some SS warehouse, along with the golden fangs of many others." So the people agreed. One of them who was a dentist in Cracow, extracted the gold. He passed it on to a jeweller, who melted it and fashioned a ring. On the inner rim of that ring, he inscribed the following words from the Talmud, "The one who saves a single life saves the entire world." James Valladares in 'Your words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life' Attitude of Gratitude Some years ago a movie came out which humourously depicted a division of humanity between those who were grateful and those ungrateful, titled, 'What about Bob?' It stars Richard Dreyfuss as a psychologist who has everything: a lovely wife and children, a dream house, a successful practice and a best-selling book which gives advice for problem solving. But the psychologist himself has a problem: nothing makes him happy. By way of contrast, he has a patient named Bob who possesses very little, but shows a dog-like gratitude for any scrap he receives. Played by Bill Murphy, Bob winds up at the psychiatrist's home as an uninvited dinner guest. He savours each item of food, loudly expressing his satisfaction. Unaccustomed to such gratefulness, the wife is pleased, but her husband grows more and more irritated until he finally explodes, slamming his fists on the table and telling Bob to be quiet. - Our genuine happiness lies not in what we achieve, but in how we receive. A sense of accomplishment is important, but much more significant is having an attitude of gratitude. Our ability of receiving the great gift of faith depends on our attitude of gratitude. John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word' Best of Gifts There is a huge fortress on a hill overlooking the town of Weinsberg in Germany. One day, far back in feudal times, the fortress was surrounded by the enemy. The commander of the enemy troops agreed to let all women and children leave the fortress. He also agreed to allow each woman take one valuable possession with her. Imagine the amazement and frustration of the commander when he saw each woman leave the fortress with her husband on her back! Charity begins at home. The hardest place to practice the gospel is at home in my own house. Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth!' Thanks for Anything! On leaving home after holidays to return to my Gujarat mission years ago, my little nieces Ruth and Rachel joyfully cried out, "Thanks, Uncle Frankie!" Taken aback, I inquired, "What for?" They replied in unison, "Thanks for going!" Being a kind of disciplinarian who controlled their TV viewing habits, they were thankful that I was going away. Truly, thanksgiving can be for anything, anywhere, anytime. And, to everybody! Francis Gonsalves in 'Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds' May we always be grateful because everything we have is a gift! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
