The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
It’s not typically easy to be an outsider. I know this to be true in my life, and I am sure you have felt this challenge at one point or another. We live in a culture where we are stuck worshiping ourselves: For example, it is expected for you to have a page on the internet dedicated to just yourself. But what if I told you that being a foreigner to common culture might be what God is inviting you into?
I cannot help but notice this within the readings today. We have two very tangible takeaways from this Gospel: How rich God is in doing good, and how poor we are in return. When looking at the lepers' reaction to being healed, we see more than just God's healing. It’s about our response to His grace. Giving thanks to God is one of the most important things I can do as a creature. It is an act of humility. Every good thing comes from God, and by expressing gratitude back to God, I grow in the virtue of humility because I recognize that every “good and perfect gift is from above.”
The biggest thing I’ve found about daily gratitude is that giving thanks opens our hearts to more readily recognize blessings. I urge you to find a way to daily recognize blessings from God, because they are abundant. For the past few months, I have kept a daily gratitude journal and write down one or two things I am grateful for each day. I’ve found that the more I readily notice the little blessings, the more mindful of them I am in the moment. When coupled with the fact that this is an important response to God's grace, this is a powerful daily prayer.
Like the nine lepers, too many of us turn our backs away from the Author of Cure and go about our own days. We would rather live our lives as if they are ours, and thus all things God becomes secondary. Just as the one leper, we ought to be speedy in our returns of praise. Not because God needs our praise, but because we need to give it. This is the faith that will save us. God will let you have what you worship; will that be yourself, or your King?
Wherever it is in your life that you stand alone- be it an illness, a marriage, a place of work, or a seemingly impossible situation- remember that God can do big things with your worship, just like the one leper who turned around. Glorify God for these moments, fall at His feet, and thank Him for what He has given you. Even if you have to go it alone. Give God what is due. Worship, because your worship is the very faith that will save you.
Jacob Bentzinger resides in Kansas City. He has been an editorial and commercial photographer since 2016 and shooting for the Church since 2018. Jacob spends most of his time behind a camera or next to a cup of coffee...But not just any coffee — an iced americano. You can check out his website or find him on Instagram.
