(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Mass-Blog-for-the-28th-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2025-1.mp3)
Nineteenth Century Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche converted from Christianity to atheism once he was convinced God was dead. Strangely enough, he still believed human gratitude could survive without God. He considered it “the essence of all beautiful art.” We created it, he believed, to help us cope with suffering and death.
If only he had taken a fresh look at gratitude as depicted in the God-inspired art of the Scriptures. He might have given thanks for the connections the Bible’s authors opened between gratitude and God.
In this Sunday’s first reading from the second book of Kings (2 Kings 5:14-17), Naaman wants to thank Elisha the prophet for curing his leprosy and strengthening his faith. But Elisha wouldn’t accept any kind of repayment.
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel,” Naaman enthuses. “If you will not accept a gift, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD.”
Naaman’s gratitude was planted within the borders of Israel as deeply as Paul’s chains were anchored in prison cell after prison cell throughout his ministry. But Paul’s gratitude was boundless, despite those confines, thanks to the infinite Kingdom his Master’s Gospel opened to him:
“The word of God is not chained,” he tells his disciple Timothy (2 Timothy 2:8-13), “therefore I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.”
Christ’s gospel is the living word of God, and like Paul’s, our freedom comes from a spirit of gratitude freed from the boundaries of human geography and rationalization.
Consider the ten lepers Jesus cures in Sunday’s gospel reading (Luke 17:11-19). Nine of them were so happy that they were freed from their condition, they ran home to bask in their good fortune. But being at home with ingratitude is the same as being its lifelong prisoner. The tenth leper knew he wouldn’t be free until he returned to the scene of his cure and gave thanks.
“Where are the other nine?” Jesus asks. “Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
This foreigner’s prayer of thanksgiving spoke God’s language. If a self-made atheist like Nietzsche could be moved by expressions of human gratitude found in the art of his local museums, perhaps a more guided tour through the art of the scriptures would have pointed him back to the faith he ran away from, as if from a leper. Like the leper who returned to give thanks, Nietzsche could have found true healing. It might have seemed like a long trip to him, but the God he declared dead ensures that even the most roundabout faith journeys can be sustained by a single prayer.
As German Theologian Meister Eckhart taught centuries before Nietzsche was born, “If the only prayer you ever said was ‘thank you,’ that would be enough.”
–Tom Andel
We see this message repeated in so many ways throughout the Old Testament, which Jesus continues and enhances into the new. Gratitude is a by product of a heart in alignment with God, almost a reflex that expresses our faith. I find it baffling that anyone can read what the early church fathers endured and still not believe the truth. To live with gratitude is to recognize God in every work and circumstance, and to find peace in that truth.
Our faith is filled with subtleties. The difference between gratitude and appreciation is like that between joy and happiness. Gratitude and joy are constants of faith. Appreciation and happiness are situation based, making us slaves to events. I am so grateful to God for the joy of our faith.
Prayers of thankfulness are often overlooked in our era of comfort and in places like generally tranquil suburban Ohio. We mostly take for granted the conveniences of our 21st century lifestyle. Flip a switch, the light goes on. Turn a knob, water flows. Flush the toilet……
Now we just click and a delivery is made at our front door, often within a day.
Life was much harder for our great grandparents, many of whom crossed a great ocean to an unknown land where they didn’t know the language, the culture or the people. The one constant most of them had was faith. The church gave them enough stability to adapt to their new surroundings. They trusted in the God of eternity to see them through tough times.
Our convenient lives make us softer, more comfortable, and far less seeking or dependent on our God. Jesus had no place to lay his head.
We can look much further back than our great grandparents to understand how our faith works. Some might call St. Paul a prisoner of his faith, considering how often he ended up in jail cells. But in Romans 5:3-5, he’s downright proud and joyful for what he’s been through. “We even boast of our afflictions,” he says, “knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
By making space in our hearts for the entire Trinity, there’s room enough for each of us to find rest, too.