Being the One to Thank Jesus

Five weeks ago, we talked about letting go of our loved ones so that we can receive them back, and one example I mentioned is how we sometimes treat our parents like slaves.  When I said this at the 5 p.m. Mass, one person said out loud, “Yep!”  I was surprised!  I guess she really felt the pain of ingratitude.  Many parents feel this way, when we children take advantage of them.  They feel like we only go to them when we need something.

Can we think of a time when we’ve been used?  Have you ever been in an unequal friendship, where we give and initiate the phone calls whereas our friend takes, and after a while, we think, “You only call me when you need me”?  I remember once realizing about a group of people, “Oh!  You want my attention, but you don’t really care about me.”

It reminds me of how we come to God and church with a consumerist mentality.  Here’s a helpful example:

Where’s the focus on Jesus?  We all subconsciously go to Jesus and we choose our parish based on what we get out of it.

Forgetting about the person of Jesus and just using Him are at the heart of His questions today. “Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Lk 17:17-18).  There were ten lepers who shouted out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (17:13).  This may be similar to when we turn to God in prayer, but we spend more time asking Him for things than thanking Him.  In the morning, we pray for various things (help, strength, guidance, health, safety, etc.), which isn’t bad, but it’s very transactional: We pray, and God gives us things.  Yet, it’s not relational.

I only realized, in preparation for this homily, that this is why people think that being a good person is enough to go to heaven.  It’s a transaction: I’m good and You should let me in; it doesn’t matter if I love You or not, I was good, so let me in.  But heaven is about being in the Father’s house with Him.  If we don’t love Him, then we won’t be with Him; if we don’t let Jesus wipe away our sins, that is, our offences against Him, then we won’t be with Him forever.

Only one leper remembers Jesus.  “When he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet [This is the posture of someone who depends entirely on God] and thanked him [We only thank people.  We don’t thank things, e.g. we don’t thank our cell phone for working.  So, when we don’t thank God, we’re unintentionally treating Him like an object.  St. Athanasius says that the nine lepers were more focused on their healing rather than the healer.]” (Lk 17:15-16).

Last week, we talked about angels who come into our lives, do an act of service, and then disappear.  Here’s a news story from nine years ago about the human response to give thanks to people:

 “We just would like to find this gentleman and be able to thank him.”  There were so many news stories and requests to find this priest!  That’s so beautiful!  This is the true human spirit!  Imagine if we said, “I just need to find my parents and thank them.”  I can’t help but think of Stevie Wonder’s song I Just Called to Say ‘I Love You.’  In addition to going to Mass every Sunday, how much more should we do?  Should we stop by the chapel?  For what?  To thank Jesus for dying for us.

There are two reasons I don’t believe in or love Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and other religious, spiritual teachers.  First, I don’t believe that everything they taught was entirely correct.  Second, none of them has done anything for me.

The reason I believe in Jesus is, first of all, because I believe everything He said is true.  Second, He was born, lived, died, and rose for me.  St. Paul writes, “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15).  That’s I.  He didn’t just give me a perfect teaching by which to live, but He gave His life for me.

Now think about this: How many Persons are there in God?  Three.  Is Jesus God?  Is He one with the Father and the Holy Spirit?  Now, how many Persons died on the Cross for us?  The answer is still: One.  Even though Jesus shares the same nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit, only He died on the Cross for us.  And that’s why we thank Him for taking away our sins.  Yes, the Father sent Him, and we thank Him for that!  And the Holy Spirit comes into our soul, and we thank Him for that!  However, we only thank Jesus for taking away our sins, and offering us eternal life.

St. Mother Teresa would often look at holy cards like this one, with the image of Jesus suffering, and the words printed on it were, “I looked for one that would comfort me and I found none” (Ps 68:21).

 

She would tell the other Missionaries of Charity, “Tell Jesus, ‘I will be the one.’  I will comfort, encourage and love Him….  Be with Jesus.  He prayed and prayed, and then he went to look for consolation, but there was none….  I always write that sentence, ‘I looked for one to comfort Me, but I found no one.’  Then I write, ‘Be the one.’  So now you be that one.  Try to be the one to share with Him, to comfort Him, to console Him.  So let us ask Our Lady to help us understand” (Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, Ed., Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, 260-261).

That funny video about Me Church is all about our being the centre of our churches.  So, this brings us to the Christ the King Challenge on November 20, 2022.  The questions we’re going to ask are, “Have you made Jesus the centre of your life?”  “Is there anyone who’s close to making Jesus the centre, and desires it?”  This is a personal decision with public bearing.  It’s not: ‘Have you experienced someone up there is taking care of you,’ (that’s vague) but, ‘Have you experienced that Jesus lived, died, and rose for you, that He loves you, and has made you the centre of His life, and have you, in return, made Him the centre of your life?’

When we realize that He has changed our lives, we praise God with a loud voice, fall at the feet of Jesus, and thank Him.

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