Msgr. Pope on True Thanksgiving

"One of the dangers in presenting New Testament moral teaching is reducing the gospel to a bunch of rules to follow using the power of one's own flesh. This is an incorrect notion because for a Christian the moral life is not merely achieved; it is received. The moral life is not an imposition; it is a gift from God.

"The Gospel chosen for Thanksgiving Day features the familiar story of the ten lepers who are healed by Jesus, but only one of whom returns to thank Him. The ingratitude of the other nine prompts an irritable response from Jesus, who more than suggests that they also should have returned to give thanks. Reading this Gospel on the surface, it is easy to conclude that it is a moral directive about being thankful to God and others. Well, that's all well and good, but simply reminding people of a rule of polite society isn't really the gospel message.

"True thankfulness is receiving from God a deeply grateful heart so that we do not merely say thank you in a perfunctory way, but are deeply moved with gratitude. We are not merely being polite or justly rendering a debt of obligation; we actually are grateful from the heart. True gratitude is a grace, a gift from God, which proceeds from a humble and transformed heart. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on the basis for a deepening awareness of gratitude, including an awareness of the truth that we are contingent beings who depend upon God for our very existence, how every good thing we do is a gift from God, and how gifts sometimes come in strange packages.

To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:

Community in Mission: True Thanksgiving Isn’t Just Something We Do; It’s Something That Happens to Us (24 NOV 21)