Daily Mass Homily: Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 (School Mass)

           During this season of the year, we prepare for our annual Thanksgiving feast and are reminded of how important it is to be grateful for the blessings in our lives.  I love looking at the artwork made by our students.  The halls are filled with turkeys, instructions on how to cook a Thanksgiving meal, and someone even made a turkey out of Fr. Rich's picture.  I have no idea how that happened!

           Out of ten lepers cleansed by Jesus in our Gospel, only one—the Samaritan—returned to give him thanks.  Whenever we hear of a leper or leprosy in the Bible, we must think of someone who has an incurable and contagious disease of the skin.  These people suffered from boils, loss of fingers and toes, and pain we can’t imagine.  In the Old Testament they were considered unclean and had to be live outside the Israelite camp. 

            Jesus hears the lepers call out, goes out to them and cures them.  Only one—the Samaritan—came back to thank Jesus.

In our own lives, we can never say “thank you” too much.  I have never heard a wife say about her husband, “He says thank you way more than he should” or a husband say the same thing about his wife.  I have never heard a teacher say he or she says these two words too much.

            You students have a lot to be thankful for.  [I asked them whom they should be thankful for at school.  One student said “The sixth graders because they’re bigger than us.”]  We thank the teachers of St. John’s school who work very hard—and for less pay than public school teachers—to make our school work.  We give thanks to Ann, our excellent cook who feeds you every day.  We give thanks to Eric, Al and Pete who keep our facilities in tip-top shape.  We thank Mrs. Frederickson as she guides our school with her leadership skills.  We thank all the volunteers, aides and staff who support the mission of our school on a daily basis.

            Above all, we give thanks to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We give thanks for doing something none of us by our own righteousness could do—giving His own life for the forgiveness of our sins: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

            We can never say “thank you” enough.  We have much to be grateful for at our school.  Above all we praise God who sent His son to die for our sins.  Be sure to thank Him and those that work for His glory in our school.