Leprosy during Jesus’s time essentially meant your entire life was taken from you. You couldn’t be near your family and friends. You couldn’t be part of the community. You were even expected to warn people not to come close to you. It was, in many ways, a miserable existence.
So if the necessity to isolate suddenly came to an end, it seems natural that the first thing a person would do would be to go to the priest and get official approval to join the community again. Giving thanks could come later, after all. God doesn’t need our thanks, anyway. God is complete and perfect whether or not we give thanks right away.
In a very real sense, giving thanks is ultimately for our benefit. It helps us to remember our place and be humble. We must not forget that the good things in our lives would not be ours without God permitting them, no matter how hard we work for them. What’s more, secular science confirms that gratitude is good for our mental and even physical health. Those who give thanks daily tend to be healthier and happier.
So, while it is natural to be caught up with the joy of the gift and put gratitude on the back burner, Jesus calls us to rise above our natural inclinations. Let us pray today for the grace to be thankful, first and foremost.
La lepra durante el tiempo de Jesús esencialmente significaba que te quitaban toda la vida. No podías estar cerca de tu familia ni a tus amigos. No podías ser parte de la comunidad. Incluso se esperaba que advirtieras a la gente que no se te acercara. Era, en muchos sentidos, una existencia miserable.
Entonces, si la necesidad de aislarse de repente llegara a su fin, parece natural que lo primero que hiciera una persona sería acudir al sacerdote para obtener la aprobación oficial de unirse nuevamente a la comunidad. Uno podría dar las gracias después. Porque al fin de cuentas, Dios no necesita nuestro agradecimiento. Dios es completo y perfecto aunque le demos las gracias o no.
En un sentido muy real, dar las gracias es ultimadamente para beneficio nuestro. Nos ayuda a recordar nuestro lugar y a ser humildes. No debemos olvidar que las cosas buenas de nuestra vida no serían nuestras sin el permiso de Dios, por mucho que trabajemos por ellas. Además, la ciencia secular confirma que la gratitud es buena para nuestra salud mental e incluso física. Los que dan gracias a diario tienden a ser más sanos y felices.
Entonces, si bien es natural dejarse atrapar por el gozo del regalo y poner la gratitud en un segundo plano, Jesús nos llama a elevarnos por encima de nuestras inclinaciones naturales. Oremos hoy por la gracia de ser agradecidos, ante todo.
J.M. Pallas has had a lifelong love of Scriptures. When she is not busy with her vocation as a wife and mother to her “1 Samuel 1” son, or her vocation as a public health educator, you may find her at her parish women’s bible study, affectionately known as “The Bible Chicks.”
Feature Image Credit: pixabay.com/photos/man-praying-kneel-kneeling-1867390/
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