Be Grateful!

Binhi sang Pagtuo

November 23, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Our reflection for this week is still focused on thanksgiving. We will reflect on the story of the ten lepers in their encounter with Jesus.

People who have leprosy during the time of Jesus were one of the outcasts of their society. They stayed in the cemeteries and caves away from the people. They were away from their family, their husbands, wives, children and friends. There is an Old Testament law that states that a leper should maintain a distance of 50 feet away from the people, and they shall shout “Unclean! Unclean! Get away from me!”

Have you ever felt being neglected and driven away? Yes, all of us have, in one time or another, experience this kind of feeling. But the good news is that Jesus Christ cares and has compassion to those who being neglected and cast away. The story says that when the lepers cried out for mercy, Jesus took pity. They were cleansed along the way to the priest but only one of them remembered to say “thank you.” This leper was a Samaritan. This Samaritan leper will teach us three different thanksgiving positions.

The first thanksgiving position that he showed was he turned and went back. This Samaritan was not an “eat and run” type of person like some of us. The nine, who were Jews, forgot about Jesus and went straightly back to the society. They are even the ones who were expected to come back since there was an enmity between Samaritans and Jews. Jesus might be saying, “these nine lepers who did not come back have a greater disease than leprosy – the disease of ingratitude.”

In our Filipino culture and tradition, we frown upon those who are ungrateful because we have a culture of utang na loob (utang nga kabalaslan, utang nga kabubut-on - sense of gratitude). We need to practice utang nga kabubut-on towards our God.

The second thanksgiving position that the leper showed was “he raised his head to heaven and praise God in a loud voice.” The leper knows where credit is due.

When something good happens to us we sometimes forget whom to be thankful and credit our being a dibuenas or swerte (lucky) or to the other gods.

The third thanksgiving position that he showed was, he bowed to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. To humble oneself is to perform an act of submission. It is to do away with our human pride and let God reign in our hearts. Like the Samaritan leper, we must learn to let go and let God reign in our lives.

It is hard to have a “humble thanksgiving” when we have something better that what is being given to us. It is also hard to say “thank you, Lord” when we are in want. But all the while God is saying, “look at what you have.” As the hymn goes, “count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

The nine lepers may be physically healed but the one who returned was not only physically healed but was also spiritually healed. “Your faith has made you well” – this is what Jesus said. Because of the leper’s faith and thankful attitude, he was made whole.

May God bless us all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain