No one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner
The story of the ten lepers teaches us about the value of gratitude. In the succession of emotions - from despair, to hope, to excitement - nine out of the ten forgot to come back and offer thanks to God. To the one who came back Jesus said: “stand up and go on your way, your faith has saved you”. While the others received just the bodily healing, which was for them the urgent need at the time, the Samaritan also obtained a much more important gift: the faith in Jesus Christ while leads to salvation.
It is disheartening when people return our efforts to do good to them with ingratitude, even when we don’t help out of a desire to be thanked. It can even lead some to refrain from helping. What we might not be fully aware of, is the incidents when we ourselves have shown ingratitude, to God and to others from whom we have received favors. It may not have occurred to the nine healed lepers that they should have gone back and thanked Jesus. And so, we need to cultivate the virtue of gratitude by practicing it.
Gratitude brings contentment. When we count the favors, we have received we are moved more to thankfulness than to petition. Gratitude increases faith. When we are grateful, we discover how reliable and bountiful God is and we are more likely to trust him in times of need. Gratitude generates generosity. When we are grateful, we feel motivated to let others have the joy of receiving which we have experienced. We can also share more readily because we are assured that the one who gave us will also give again. Gratitude brings humility; the ungrateful may attribute favors to his/her own merit, whereas the grateful person turns with thanks to the benefactor. We pray for the grace to be thankful to God for his manifold goodness, and to all our benefactors.
