What ingratitude displayed by the nine lepers who did not return to thank Jesus after being healed. Their ingratitude is highlighted all the more by Luke since he points out that the one who returned to thank Jesus was a Samaritan. There was considerable hostility between the Samaritans and the Jewish people at the time of Jesus so the ingratitude of the others is all the more astonishing: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” (Luke 17:17-18)
Obviously, this incident challenges us to be grateful to God for all that God has done for us. We have received so much from the Lord and sometimes we take so much for granted. We could imagine Jesus saying the Sunday after First Holy Communion: “Ten received First Holy Communion, did they not? Where are the other nine? I died for you.” We could imagine Jesus saying on the Sunday after Confirmation: “Ten received Confirmation, did they not? Where are the other nine? I died for you.”
It is easy to be grateful to God during the good times. But what about during the difficult times? It can be very challenging to be grateful in the midst of pain and suffering. Some people seem to receive very large crosses. We don’t have the answer to the heavy crosses that some people have to bear. Sometimes the best we can do for them is to accompany them and assure them of our support. The important thing during heavy crosses is to remain faithful to God. That is being grateful to God even when it is difficult. These words of Padre Pio are worth considering: “Follow the Divine Master up the steep slope of Calvary, loaded with our cross, and when it pleases him to place us on the cross . . . let us thank him and consider ourselves lucky to be honored in this way, aware that to be on the cross with Jesus is infinitely more perfect than merely contemplating [him] on the Cross.” (Bernard Ruffin, Padre Pio: The True Story, Revised and Expanded, 3rd Edition p112)
Sacred Scripture encourages us to remain faithful to God when disasters come our way. Our first reading last Sunday was from the prophet Habakkuk and was asking God how long more before his prayer would be answered. Later in that same book from Habakkuk we read,
For though the fig
tree does not blossom,
and no fruit appears on the vine,
Though the yield of the olive fails . . .
and there is no herd in
the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my
saving God. (Hab 3:17-18)
St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:4-7)
Our model in gratitude to and praise of God is Our Lady. Her prayer, the Magnificat, begins: “My soul glorifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-47) Sometimes we grumble and complain but Our Lady’s prayer is a model for us: “My soul glorifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” It reminds us to also be grateful to Our Lady for all she has done for us. Sometimes children aren’t grateful to their parents or don’t realize what their parents do for them, and we can ask ourselves if we are grateful to Our Lady for all she does for us.
Pope Francis was elected Pope in 2013 and on October 13 of that year Pope Francis consecrated the world to Our Lady and had the statue of Our Lady in Fatima containing the bullet in the crown that nearly killed Pope John Paul II brought to St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the occasion. (Pope Leo also had it brought to Rome in October 2025.) Here is an excerpt of that consecration: “With renewed gratitude for your maternal presence, we join our voice to that of all the generations that have called you blessed. We celebrate in you the great work of God, who never tires of bending down with mercy to mankind, afflicted by evil and wounded by sin, to heal and to save it.”
In a letter in May 1912, Padre Pio wrote: “How often have I confided to this mother the painful anxieties that troubled my heart! And how often has she consoled me? . . . In my greatest sufferings, it seemed to me that I no longer have a mother on this earth but a very compassionate one in heaven. But many times, when my heart was at peace, I have forgotten all this almost entirely. I have even forgotten my duty of gratitude towards this blessed heavenly Mother! . . . Poor dear Mother, how you love me? . . . What great care she took to accompany me to the altar this morning. It seemed to me that she had nothing else to think about except myself as she filled my whole heart with sentiments of holy love.” (Letters Vol 1: Correspondence with his Spiritual Directors 1910-1922 p311-312).
As the Gospel today challenges us to be grateful to God, I conclude with the words of Our Lady: “My soul glorifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46-47)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday Year C
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God 2022
Saved by Jesus 2016
Related Homilies: Jesus became like a Leper for us all 2021
Today’s Gospel in the context of Luke 2007
Saint Damien lived and died with lepers
Scripture Commentary: Jesus’ Ministry to the Samaritans (on page 2)