Thanksgiving

THE STORY is told that one day Jesus was strolling in heaven and He passed by two angels with lots of telephones in front of them. The first angel had many calls, while the other angel had hardly any. The first angel was the angel assigned to the petition and complaint department, while the other was assigned to the thanksgiving department. Which angel do you call most of the time?

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In today's Gospel (Lk. 17, 11-19), Jesus cured 10 lepers, but only one, a Samaritan, came back to give Him thanks. "Were not all 10 healed? Where are the other nine?" Most of us are like the other nine. Too preoccupied with our gifts and blessings, we forget the giver of those gifts and blessings. All too often we are so focused on what we want to have that we forget to thank God for what we already have and what we still have. We are like children looking for the distant stars even as we overlook the many starfishes right in front of us.

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The Koreans celebrated their "chusok" last Sept. 28. It is their day of thanksgiving. On that day, families come together to give thanks and honor their parents and ancestors. It is not only a beautiful tradition, but a beautiful reminder as well that many of what we are and what we have now are the fruits of our parents' love and sacrifices. We all need to go back, to remember, and to give thanks. A person who does not go back is a proud person, and proud persons are often empty and lonely deep inside. A person who thinks he owes nothing to no one is terribly mistaken.

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Learn from nature. My grandfather taught us that lizards go down to kiss the earth to give thanks to the Creator every evening. He also told us that the cows and the carabaos bend their knees and kneel before they sleep. And he told us that when the rooster crows in the morning, it is actually praying and praising God. If nature is grateful, why not us?

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Rep. Gerry Cabochan related to me, during our pilgrimage to Naju, Korea, his experience in 1961 with the power of prayer, when his mother was dying in the UST Hospital. In tears, he went to the dimly lit chapel and asked Our Lady of Fatima to let his mother, whom he loved very much, live. While praying, Mama Mary told him, "Go back to your mother. She will live." Sure enough, when he went back to the room, his mother was awake and her color had turned rosy, and she was asking for water. The story could have ended there, but it did not. It ended in the chapel, to where he went back to give thanks. He also promised to build a statue for the Blessed Mother. A 27-foot statue of Our Lady now stands in San Rafael, Bulacan because of one man who knew how to go back and give thanks.

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I cannot help but give thanks whenever I encounter the Korean visionary Julia Kim. She is such a giving person. I always feel the unconditional love of the Blessed Mother through Julia. In spite of her physical sufferings, she is so generous to all the pilgrims. She spends time to be with, and to pray over, everyone. I have never seen anyone so generous with her time and with her smile and with her prayers, especially to priests; she gives so much love and encouragement. She is one person who, because of her many sufferings, could be living a bitter and an angry life, but instead, she lives a grateful, beautiful life. Is your life a life of thanksgiving, or is your life a life of "think giving," i.e. you always think of giving, you think before giving, and end up not giving?

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A pilgrimage can help one see things in a clearer light from a distance. A pilgrim once confided to me how she realized her lack of love for her children because she was so focused on her career. So busy in making a living, she forgot that what the children needed most from her was a lot of loving. So focused on imposing discipline, she forgot that more than an orderly home, her children needed a happy and a peaceful one. I admired her humility and honesty. She has written her children a letter, humbly asking for their forgiveness, along with the promise that she will be more gentle to them from now on. Parents, are you raising up grateful children? The only way you can do that is if you raise them up with much love, much patience and much giving. Love-giving is the first cousin of thanksgiving.

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Did you hear the story about a husband who had a speech impediment? One day, he walked behind the wife, blindfolded her with his hands to surprise her and said "Ngess who?" (Guess who?) The wife shouted back: "You are the only harelipped person in this house, how can I not guess who you are?!" The point is that the husband was trying to give joy to her wife, while the wife simply killed the joy. Are you the "kill joy" in your house? Are people not happy anymore because of you? A joyful person is a grateful person. Don't forget that joy-giving is another cousin of thanksgiving.

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Being here in Korea and seeing so much progress all around, I can't help but feel sad about our country, the Philippines. I hope, I pray, I know and I believe that someday we, too, as a people and as a nation, will rise above our poverty and afflictions. But this will happen only if we eradicate corruption in our government, and if we as a people go beyond our selfishness and really love our nation. But still, we give thanks, because we too have many other blessings as a people and as a nation, don't you think so? (You don't sound very convincing!) Let's shout one big YES and Amen to that!

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A moment with the Lord:

Lord, help me to live a life full of thanksgiving, love-giving and joy-giving. Amen.