Dig Deeper into this Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 17:11–19

“It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy …”[1]

These words may be familiar to us, as they are often prayed over us during Mass, so well-known that we could almost recite them in our sleep.

Yet, how often do we ponder what they actually mean?

This week’s Sunday gospel can shed some light for us.

In Luke 17, we encounter ten lepers who call out to Jesus for pity and mercy as He passes by. Our Lord immediately responds, instructing them to show themselves to the priests. At that time, this was a ritual act that unclean persons, like lepers, had to perform to demonstrate their cleanliness, which would allow them to be reinstated within the community for relationship and worship. As they go on their way, “they were cleansed” (Luke 17:14), meaning they were healed of their leprosy.

One leper realizes that he has been healed, turns back, and falls at the Lord’s feet, pouring out gratitude and praise for what Jesus has done.

We can imagine Jesus receiving this man with grace, tenderness, and compassion. Yet, I also picture Him looking down the road, watching the dust swirl into the air from the feet of the other nine lepers, also clean and healed, who continue to walk away.

“Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” (Luke 17:17–18). All ten obeyed the Lord’s command to present themselves to the priests. All ten received the gift of healing, freely given in love and mercy. However, only one turned back to Jesus. Only one had faith enough to offer thanksgiving. 

Faith enough. 

How much faith is “enough” for God? 

The truth is that we do not have anything to offer that could ever be fully sufficient to repay Him who has given us everything and has given up everything for us. But God doesn’t need us to have enough faith—He knows that is utterly impossible. 

He wants us to have faith enough. 

Faith enough to acknowledge Him as our Creator. Faith enough to praise Him for the gift He gave on the cross so that we might be saved. Faith enough to testify to His resurrection, to His victory over sin, and to the freedom which He offers to us, sinners though we all are. Faith enough to realize the gift of His healing power and turn to Him in grateful praise.

The King James translation of this passage preserves a powerful nuance in Jesus’ response to the one leper who returns in thanksgiving: “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Luke 17:19 KJV [emphasis added]). The healing of his body was not the greatest gift this man received. It is his faith in Christ as Lord that saved and restored him to wholeness—body and soul. 

We will never fully repay the debt that Christ paid for us. But Jesus is not a bill collector. He is not calling us to remind us of what we owe. He doesn’t seek repayment from us; He only seeks our wholeness and a relationship with us. He does not want our indentured servitude, but rather desires our freedom.

Even a mustard seed sized bit of faith in Jesus as Lord has the power, is just enough, to cleanse us from our spiritual leprosy: from the selfishness, pride, and vanity that corrode us, from the wounds that isolate us in shame, and from the filth of sin that stains our souls. This belief, even the smallest amount, can heal the division in our hearts and restore us to wholeness.

True faith in Jesus as Lord leads us to acknowledge ourselves as the very poorest of beggars. Father Gabriel writes in Divine Intimacy, “We have nothing of our own; all that we are and have comes from Him, and in return for His infinite generosity, we can do nothing but use His gifts to express our gratitude to Him.”[2]

So then, if we love God and truly believe in who He says He is and who He says we are to Him, then thanksgiving is not optional. In fact, it is the very least we can offer in exchange for our salvation. 

Gratitude is far more than a polite gesture; it is an act of worship, one most pleasing to God. It is a prayer that delights Him, one He never tires of hearing. 

Gratitude prunes the weeds of selfishness and pride from our hearts. It creates space for proper reverence and obedience to take root, allowing the fruit of a restored relationship with our Lord to bloom and flourish. Gratitude places us back in a rightly ordered relationship with God, our Maker and Creator, where humility and joy grow freely. 

What the healed man did with his whole being, falling at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving, we are invited to do with our whole lives. We may not be able to repay in full for what we have received. But we can have faith enough to return to Him, again and again, with praise and worship on our lips and gratitude in our hearts.

Because it is only right and just.
It is but our simple duty and our salvation.
We ought, always and everywhere, to give Him thanks. 

With a grateful heart,
Jeannine

Food for thought or journaling …

In what moments of my daily life do I most forget to give thanks, and how might the Lord be inviting me to turn those very moments into worship?

Lord Jesus, “I shall never be able to love You as much as You deserve.”[3]  Forgive me for the times that I walk away without returning to thank You. Plant in my heart the seeds of humility and gratitude that I might delight in the gift of You and in Your presence. May my thanksgiving rise to You as worship, today and always. Amen. 

P.S. For those who want help cultivating an attitude of gratitude, take a look at the Walking with Purpose Praying from the Heart: Guided Prayer Journal. Let your prayers of gratitude lead you into deeper worship of the One who is the giver of all good gifts.

[1] “Eucharistic Prayer II,” iBreviary, accessed September 24, 2025, https://www.ibreviary.com/m2/messale.php?s=preghiera_eucaristica&id=73.
[2] Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy (Baronius Press, MMXXII), 822.
[3] Ibid., 818.