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Bishop's Homily for Thanksgiving Day

November 26, 2020

Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, downtown Honolulu

I wonder if this good Samaritan we hear about in the Gospel gave thanks for his leprosy?  Of course, we do not normally think of giving thanks to God for diseases and misfortunes.  It is hard enough to be grateful for the many good things we receive.  But if it were not for his leprosy, this person from Samaria would never have known Jesus.  It was because of his leprosy that he even approached Jesus.  So while he obviously gave thanks for his healing from leprosy, I wonder if he did not also give thanks for the opportunity this disease afforded him to know Jesus himself as his Savior and Lord.

As we know from the discussion between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, the Jews worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem, which is where the priests would be found.  At the time he met the ten people with leprosy, Jesus himself was on a journey to that very Temple, and it was to that Temple and the priests there that the other nine who were healed went.  Yet it was that one who had no loyalty to the Temple in Jerusalem who realized that standing right before him was something greater than the Temple.  He realized that there before him was the greatest Priest of all, because he was the Temple, the Priest and the Sacrifice who offered himself to God.  The Samaritan alone, perhaps because he was not accustomed to go to the Temple or to resort to the priests there, was able to have a unique perspective to see that Jesus was greater than any Temple and the Highest of all the high priests.  It was because of his leprosy that he had the opportunity to come to this magnificent realization.  So I wonder if, in addition to giving thanks to Jesus for healing him, he even gave thanks for having had leprosy!

The exquisite Easter Proclamation that is sung at the beginning of the Easter Vigil to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection from the dead speaks of a “happy fault,” the “necessary sin of Adam,” which, though it caused so much pain, gained for us so great a Redeemer.  As we celebrate this Thanksgiving Day, we can benefit from the happy faults and the fortuitous misfortunes in our own lives that draw us closer to Jesus.

Yes, of course we should be mindful of the many blessings we receive from God.  Our life, our health, our families and friends, our faith – these are just a few of the many graces and blessings God gives us.  But perhaps our Gospel invites us to an even deeper sense of thanksgiving – to thank God for even the things that do not seem to be blessings, but through God’s grace can yield many blessings.

I think of this pandemic and how devastating it has been for so many.  Yet for some it may have drawn them closer to family or friends or made them appreciate much more the gift of health and the gift of community, which we so often take for granted.  I think of the man who was stricken with COVID-19 and hospitalized for weeks while no one among his family or friends was allowed to visit, and how he struck up a friendship with a janitor who cleaned his room every day, a friendship that would not have been possible had he not been confined there.  I think of a young man of great faith who has inspired me and who was my physical therapist after knee replacement surgery.  If I had not had a bad knee, I would probably not have had the blessing of knowing him.

Of course the greatest tragic misfortune for which we give constant thanks is the cruel, unjust, and horrible crucifixion of Jesus.  It seemed to be the greatest defeat of history, but in the resurrection it was transformed into the greatest victory, a victory over sin and death, which we still celebrate here and now in this memorial feast.

So yes, there are thousands of blessings for which we should give thanks to God this day and always.  Yet we may also consider thanking God for what we consider sufferings and defeats, because we know God can always transform them in a marvelous way.  We thank God that whatever befalls us, whether pleasant or unpleasant, welcome or unwelcome, we can always give thanks to the one High Priest who offers himself in sacrifice for us and be embraced in the one true Temple that is Jesus Christ our Lord.