20151111
INGRATITUDE AS THE OBSTACLE TO A DEPTH EXPERIENCE
OF GOD AND LIFE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Wisdom 6:1-11 ©
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Listen, kings, and
understand;
rulers of remotest
lands, take warning;
hear this, you who
have thousands under your rule,
who boast of your
hordes of subjects.
For power is a gift
to you from the Lord,
sovereignty is from
the Most High;
he himself will probe
your acts and scrutinise your intentions.
If, as administrators
of his kingdom, you have not governed justly
nor observed the law,
nor behaved as God
would have you behave,
he will fall on you
swiftly and terribly.
Ruthless judgement is
reserved for the high and mighty;
the lowly will be
compassionately pardoned,
the mighty will be
mightily punished.
For the Lord of All
does not cower before a personage,
he does not stand in
awe of greatness,
since he himself has
made small and great
and provides for all
alike;
but strict scrutiny
awaits those in power.
Yes, despots, my
words are for you,
that you may learn
what wisdom is and not transgress;
for they who observe
holy things holily will be adjudged holy,
and, accepting
instruction from them, will find their defence in them.
Look forward,
therefore, to my words;
yearn for them, and
they will instruct you.
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Psalm
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Psalm 81:3-4,6-7
©
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Arise, O God, to
judge the earth.
Do justice for the
weak and the orphan,
defend
the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the weak and
the poor;
set them
free from the hand of the wicked.
Arise, O God, to
judge the earth.
I have said to you:
“You are gods
and all
of you, sons of the Most High.”
And yet, you shall
die like men,
you shall
fall like any of the princes.’
Arise, O God, to
judge the earth.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.2Th2:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News
God called us
to share the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
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Or
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1Th5:18
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Alleluia, alleluia!
For all things give
thanks,
because this is what
God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 17:11-19 ©
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On
the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and
Galilee. As he entered one of the villages, ten lepers came to meet him. They
stood some way off and called to him, ‘Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.’ When he
saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ Now as they were
going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back
praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and
thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. This made Jesus say, ‘Were not all ten
made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one has come back
to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand
up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
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INGRATITUDE AS THE OBSTACLE TO A DEPTH EXPERIENCE OF GOD
AND LIFE
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: WISDOM 6:2-11;
LK 17:11-19
A man
took his new hunting dog out on a trial hunt. He shot a duck that fell
into the lake. The dog walked over the water, picked the duck up and
brought it to his master. The man was flabbergasted! He shot
another duck. Once again, while he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, the dog
walked over the water and retrieved the duck.
Hardly
daring to believe what he had seen, he called his neighbour for a shoot the
following day. Once again, each time he or his neighbour hit a duck, the
dog would walk over the water and bring the bird in. The man said
nothing. Neither did his neighbour. Finally, unable to contain
himself any longer, he blurted out, “Did you notice anything strange about that
dog?” The neighbour rubbed his chin pensively. “Yes,” he finally said.
“Come to think of it, I did! He can’t swim!”
Yes, it
isn’t as if life is not full of miracles. It’s more than that: it is
miraculous, and anyone who stops taking it for granted will see it at
once. This is the theme of today’s scripture readings.
The sad truth is that many of us live life on the ordinary level, never going
deeper to the reality underlying our everyday experiences. We cannot see
beyond the event itself. Or rather, we cannot see beyond ourselves, our
narrow and selfish needs in life. For this reason, many of us live a
superficial and inauthentic existence.
However,
some of us, when encountering extra-ordinary events, like success or failure,
do come to something of what we call a depth–experience or, in religious
language, a God-experience. This is especially so during our difficult
moments in life. Nevertheless, those people who supposedly encounter God
only in their sorrows or difficulties might not really have encountered Him.
In their trials, they actually encountered themselves more than
God. For in their fear and anxiety, and in their reflections and prayers,
they are more concerned about themselves, their needs and their security than
about God or others. If ever they turn to God, it is in order that their
cravings or prayers might be answered according to their plans. Not
surprisingly, therefore, when their prayers are answered, they almost
instantaneously forget about God. In their success and joys, God is
easily forgotten. This was surely the case of the other nine lepers in
today’s gospel who did not come to Jesus to give praise to God.
The
point of today’s gospel reading is not simply the fact that the other nine
lepers were ungrateful. Rather, the greater tragedy lies in the fact that
the sufferings and eventual miraculous healing of the nine ungrateful lepers
did not lead them to a deeper reality of life. These experiences did not
lead them to encounter God in life or in Jesus. That is why, in
telling the grateful Samaritan leper that he was saved, Jesus implied that the
other nine were not. True, they might have been physically healed,
but they were not saved since that experience had not enabled them to see the
love of God; nor the love of their fellowmen in the person of Jesus for them.
Physical cure is no guarantee of happiness and wholesomeness. The body
might be functioning well physically but the heart is still rotten and the
spiritual eyes are still blind. And though they may continue to live
their lives like the rest of the ordinary people, they would also suffer the
same frustrations and unhappiness like them. That is to say, their
sufferings and healing had not taught them anything about life and God at
all. Their physical healing therefore cannot be said to have saved
them. In the words of the gospel, they have not been made whole.
Unlike
them, the Samaritan leper was full of gratitude. It is ironical that the
Samaritan, who supposedly belonged to that group of people who did not worship
the true God, turned out to be the one who recognized God more than the others;
presumably Jews. And why was he able to recognize God? Because he
was a truly grateful man! We are told that the moment he realized that he
was healed, he rushed back to give thanks to God before Jesus, without even
bothering to get confirmation of his cure from the priests so that he could be
accepted back into the community. He could not contain his joy and
gratitude. He was more concerned with God and those who were messengers
of His love than with his security. Such was the conversion of the man
that Jesus assured him, “your faith has been your salvation.” Yes, this
man was really made whole because he was not only healed physically but
spiritually as well. He was able to recognize God’s hand in the miraculous
healing. In other words, the healing miracle for him had been a
depth experience of God and life. And because of this, we can be sure
that he would also be able to recognize God’s love in the rest of the events in
life thereafter.
Yes,
the reason why gratitude in life is so important is not so much that God needs
our thanks or that others deserve our thanks but rather, that the failure to be
grateful is an indication that we have taken life, things and people,
especially God, for granted. We have lost our sense of wonderment at the
miracles that are happening around us each day. We begin to live ordinary
events in a superficial manner; and a time will come even when extra-ordinary
events will appear ordinary to us. And that will be the end of our joy in
life because nothing else can thrill or amaze us. Life will become
a bore, static and dead. Of course, if life is like that, it is better
perhaps to call it death.
But one
who has a grateful heart will always have a depth experience of God even in
ordinary events, like drinking a cup of tea without milk or sugar. He
will be able to see beyond the surface of life, thereby turning every small
event into a depth encounter with God and with his fellowmen – seeing all these
events as ways by which the love and life of God is mediated. And when we
live grateful lives, we become humble and less demanding of God and of
others. We begin to experience the joys of life, always living in deep
contentment, without asking for more and when given the little, we are filled
with joy and gratitude. For such people, heaven is always on earth and
love is all round. For these people, even when they encounter
sorrows and difficulties, they will also be truly grateful, seeing them not
negatively but as ways in which God wants them to be led to His love.
Let us
pray that we might have a grateful heart, for an ungrateful heart is a symptom
of a deeper sickness of self-centeredness which is the cause of our blindness
in seeing God in the daily events of our life. Ingratitude and self-centeredness
take the joy out of our life. We become truly lepers, isolated from God,
our fellowmen and from life itself. But for grateful hearts and
grateful people, everything is grace and everything is a miracle. Every
day is a new day and every moment is cherished in deep gratitude and joy.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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