Giving thanks

28th Sunday Of Ordinary Time, Year C

As parents we understand the importance of teaching our children to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ from an early age. Being ungrateful is not a good characteristic for our children to express and learning to be polite is a common courtesy no matter where one lives in the world. Expressing thanks and gratitude involves dignity for both the person who gives it and the person who receives it and adds to the service or gift which is being given.  

Todays’ Gospel is all about Jesus giving and the reaction of the recipients, it teaches about faith and about salvation. It is the account of the ten lepers whom Jesus heals and it is unique to Luke’s Gospel. 

It is a story which reminds us that faith is important and that it is sometimes found in the most unlikely places. Jesus, on his journey to Jerusalem heals ten lepers. Ten people suffering from leprosy cry out for help to Jesus. The group includes Jews and Samaritans. Jesus heals all ten, but only one person glorifies God and returns to thank Jesus. That person is a Samaritan, a foreigner. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people looked down on the Samaritans and considered them to be inferior to the Jews. It is significant therefore that Jesus acknowledges the praise and thanks which the Samaritan expresses and says to him; “stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.” Just like Naaman in the first reading today God chooses to heal a foreigner since they recognised God’s healing power. God’s love and concern is for all people, Jew and non-Jew alike. The Samaritan was not the only one who had faith, but his gratitude sets him apart from the others. God’s grace and healing does not confine itself to religious, social, class, gender, racial or ethnic boundaries. Sometimes we need to cross boundaries to obtain healing, which brings new life and is dependent on our faith. Our response to healing should always be gratitude, we should aim to be like the grateful leper and be ready to give thanks and praise, adoration and worship to God. Our salvation is found in recognizing the gifts we have been given and knowing to whom we must offer our thanks.

A reading from the Gospel of Luke (Lk17:11-19)

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he travelled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going, they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not?

Where are the other nine? 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and why?
  3. Try this week to encourage the gift of gratitude with your children and talk about all the gifts from God which we should be grateful for. Pray together God, we thank you for your kindness, mercy, and compassion, which you have generously poured out upon us. Amen.
  4. Pope Francis in one of his Wednesday general audiences said that Catholics can change the world by being “bearers of gratitude” and that thanksgiving is central to being a Christian. By being thankful, little by little we spread a message of hope and we all have our part to play. “The world needs hope. And with gratitude, with this habit of saying thank you, we transmit a bit of hope.” 
  5. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare;
    i. The Bible reading from St Luke (LK 17:11-19)
    ii. A candle
    iii. Cover the table with a green cloth
    v. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
  6. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  7. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  8. Be creative 😊 

Today in the Gospel story, Jesus cures ten people who are suffering from a bad skin disease called leprosy. It was an amazing thing for Jesus to do because leprosy is a terrible disease but even so, only one of the lepers said ‘thank you’ to Jesus.

  • It is important to say ‘thank you’ to God and to each other
  • When we say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ we are showing good manners
  • Coloured craft card
  • Pencils/colours
  • Stickers to decorate

We have many things in our lives which we are thankful for, can you think of any? (Friends, family, food, our home, our health, our clothes our toys are a few examples). Sometimes we forget to say ‘thank you’ when someone gives us something or does something kind for us, in fact that is exactly what happens in today’s Gospel.

The story is about ten lepers. Do you know what a leper is? A leper is someone who has a terrible skin disease which eats away a person’s body until they die, their body becomes covered in sores. Leprosy was very common in the time of Jesus and anyone who had the disease had to live outside the village away from the other people as they were thought to be unclean and dirty. They had to stay away from other people as they might infect others, so people were afraid to go near them. Jesus was not afraid of them.

One day Jesus was walking through a village when he saw a group of ten lepers who were standing far away. They called out to Jesus. “Master, have pity on us!” as they knew who Jesus was and that he could heal them.  Jesus said to them, “go show yourselves to the priests.” As they went on their way to see the priests, they saw that their skin was no longer full of sores and that they were completely healed. Out of ten lepers only one leper turned back to praise God, and he fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “thank you.” Jesus said, “get up and go, your faith has made you well.” Your parents, teachers and catechists often remind you how important it is to have good manners. When we ask for something, we should always say ‘please,’ and when we receive something we should say ‘thank you.’ By saying ‘thank you’ we show that we are happy with what we have received and are grateful. Jesus gave the gift of healing to ten men who must have been very happy, but only one man went back to show Jesus how grateful he was for the gift of health and new life.

Think about what God has given you such as a family, friends, the world around us, love and talents, food. Like the leper who returned to Jesus, we should try to praise and thank God, always for the amazing things that we have been given.

How will you show God your thanks this week? Using the craft card make your own ‘thank-you’ card and decide whom you would like to give it to as an appreciation of what they have done for you. Colour and decorate the front and write a short message inside. If you want to make the card for Jesus, you can write a thank-you prayer inside and say it before you go to sleep at night.

Listen to this song; Give Thanks.

Sign of the Cross.

Dear Lord. You give us so many gifts, all that we need, but often we forget to say, ‘thank you.’ We thank you now and ask that you fill our hearts with gratitude and praise and help us to remember to give thanks every day for all that you do for us. Amen. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus cures ten men who are suffering from leprosy a terrible skin disease. The only person to return and say ‘thank-you’ is a Samaritan, an outsider to the people of Israel. He is a foreigner and shows us that everyone is open to God’s message.

  • God gives us many gifts and blessings
  • When we pray prayers of ‘thanksgiving’ we are thanking God for all blessings
  • a laptop

In the Gospel today, Jesus cures ten lepers. Leprosy is a terrible skin disease and in the time of Jesus anyone who had leprosy had to live outside the village away from the people as they were thought to be ‘unclean.’ They had to ring a bell and warn people that they were ‘unclean’ so that others would not come near them and catch the disease. Although ten men were cured only one man went back to Jesus to give thanks and this person was a Samaritan, he was not a Jew and lived outside Israel in a region called Samaria. Luke points out that it is a foreigner who is open to Jesus and his message. The Samaritan who is healed shows his adoration and gratitude by falling at Jesus’ feet and thanking Him. The response of the Samaritan is an act of faith, he is truly grateful for what Jesus has done for him. Not only is he cured physically from the leprosy but Jesus tells him that his “faith has saved him.” This shows us that God’s love is for all people. It is up to us to choose how to respond to this love. 

Do you think that the other nine people who were cured forgot to say, ‘thank you’? Do you sometimes forget to say ‘thank you’ to God for all the blessings He has given you? Remember, all of life and creation is a gift from God. It is through Jesus’ death and resurrection that we can have the greatest gift of all, the gift of life everlasting. Therefore, we should always give thanks and praise to God. Did you know that the word “Eucharist” is Greek for “thanksgiving”? Whenever we take the time to thank God, we are showing Jesus how much we love Him and appreciate all our blessings such as our family our friends, our home our school. Can you think of anymore? Try this week to make a special effort to pray a prayer of thanksgiving every day.We can pray to God in many ways to find out more about prayer watch this video from Catholic Brain .

Sign of the cross.

O God, thank you for the gift of life and for the beauty of all creation. Thank you for all your gifts and thank you especially for the gift of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen

You can also listen to this song; I thank God.

Coming soon.

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God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.