9 October 2022
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The gospel for today tells the story of the ten lepers made clean and the one who returned to give thanks. Ignatius established thankfulness as the first of his five points for making an examination of conscience and by doing so identified thankfulness as a first step in spiritual progress. When we are thankful for something we become aware of two important things. First that we receive things that we need. Therefore, thanksgiving provides us with an opportunity to check and examine or priorities. Second, being thankful reminds us that what we receive frequently comes from the help and resources of others and the realization of how much we are indebted to other places much in our lives in perspective. The one leper who returned to give thanks realized that all things come from God and this knowledge was recognized by Jesus as that faith that would lead him to salvation. Today’s readings simply remind us about the need to examine those things for which we are thankful and consider how they are worthy of our esteem and to recognize how much we owe to others for what we have received.