Grazie

A homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 12, 2025

2 Kings 5:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
― Meister Eckhart

The German theologian and mystic Eckhart von Hochheim wrote plainly, simply, yet profoundly, and his writings on many topics that link the everyday with the spiritual have been translated for centuries. His statement on gratitude is among the most-quoted.

Years ago, when I was in college, a classmate invited me to join him at a Christian Science lecture. The speaker was an older woman — well, to a 20-something like me, she seemed ancient — and she started by telling of a flight she and her grandson had taken not long before this speech.

“ ’Grandma,’ he asked me, ‘does this plane obey the Law of Gravity?’ No, I replied, it obeys the Law of Gratitude,” she said.

I was absolutely baffled for years. Law of Gravity? Certainly. But Gratitude? The notion of a Law of Gratitude sounded like part of some sort of belief system that ran counter to mine, and certainly didn’t sound like any sort of science, let alone a Christian one. I left there thinking I’d wasted my evening.

And yet, half a century later, her words stick with me.

Here’s why:

We’re all flying through life according to the Law of Gratitude.

Just as gravity keeps us grounded and tethered to the Earth, gratitude keeps us in our relationship with our Creator, who gave us the Earth and all its wonders, and who gave us ourselves, to inhabit this blue marble in space.

If we think about our human relationships and the gift-giving we share in them, then let’s consider this: If we are generous with people who are ungrateful, do we continue to give them anything? After a while, do we even maintain relationships with them?

Jesus was none too pleased with the lepers who forgot to say “thanks!” for their life-changing cleansing. Nonetheless, he did not cast them aside.

That’s because God’s love is continuous, eternal. God won’t pull away from a relationship with any of us because we’re ungrateful. God never stops giving. It’s we who leave God in the lurch, waiting for us to come home.

Today’s Gospel passage is a reminder that everything in our lives is a gift from God, and that all the good that happens in our lives is because of God’s plan for us. Because of God’s bespoke design for each of us, tailored to our needs, trimmed to our skills and personalities, which themselves are divine gifts.

Because of God’s generosity, which is boundless and which — unlike humans’ — demands no thanks. But deserves an infinite amount.

Today’s Gospel passage holds a mirror to our lives, asking us how grateful we are. Today’s Gospel passage prompts us to inventory our lives and especially the cornucopia of gifts within them.

We often talk of spring cleaning, but experts tell us it’s this season of fall that demands our attention as we close up for the colder days. Fall is a great time to sort out and clean out, to toss things that are worn out or cluttering our homes.

Fall is also a great time to sort out and clean out what’s cluttering our lives, emotionally and spiritually, and to appreciate — be grateful for — what’s enriching in our lives. What’s sustaining our lives.

We wake up on the right side of the daisies. Thank you, God.

We have loved ones in our lives. Thank you, God.

We have food, clothing, shelter, clean running water. Thank you God, for the skill and hard work of everyone who makes these happen. And thank you, God, for the natural resources in the first place.

We have physical and intellectual skills to achieve our lives’ purposes. Thank you, God.

And we have opportunities, thank God.

As we inventory our abundant gifts, we can’t forget to look left and right to check on our sisters and brothers near and far. Do they have what they need? Health? Love? Food, clothing, shelter?

Can we share bits of ourselves to plug the gaps in their lives?

Can we share, knowing that — cliché though it may be — a flame lit from ours does not diminish ours; it only adds to the light?

Can we say thanks be to God for all our gifts by becoming gifts?

God’s gift of grace to us makes it possible. The realities of life make it necessary.