Bishop Glen John Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles
Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
"Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Luke 17:18
At times I have been asked, "Where does the word Eucharist" appear in the Bible?" In answer, I always remind my questioner that the New Testament was not written in English. The manuscripts we possess are written in Greek. Greek is the New Testament language. Everything else is a translation. So we cannot look for an English word.
Eucharist is a Greek word. The original word as a noun is "eukaristia", which means in English "thanksgiving." The verb is "eukaristeo", which means "give thanks." Eucharist, as a word, is in fact found throughout the New Testament, as in our Gospel today.
Jesus cures ten lepers, but only one returns to give thanks. What adds to Jesus' surprise is that the leper who does give thanks is a Samaritan. The mutual dislike between Samaritans and Jews made his gratitude seem unlikely. However, the Samaritan "fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him" (Luke 17:16). He gives "eukaristia", thanksgiving. Jesus replies saying, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" (Luke 17:17-18). The lesson and theme is thanksgiving.
There are many ways of giving thanks. Thanksgiving in the Bible is closely associated with giving praise. When one thinks of it, this is so very true. When anyone does a kindness to me and I give thanks, in expressing gratitude I am giving praise to my benefactor, the giver of the gift, the source of the favor. Every thank you note, each phone call of thanksgiving, a simple "thank you", is an acknowledgement that someone is the source of this gift.
Jesus, the night before He died, gave thanks to His Father and left us with that thanksgiving to repeat. "Then, taking bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying: This is my body to be given for you. Do this as a remembrance of me"" (Luke 22:19).
The early Christians paid attention to words. Many of the first converts to Christ also spoke Greek. They heard the words "giving thanks", the act of "eukaristia", and the word stuck.
The Eucharist that we celebrate is a continuation of that perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving. In that act of thanksgiving, we give praise to God for His many gifts, beginning with the gift of Himself in Jesus His Son, whom we call into our midst. As St. Paul will say when speaking of the Eucharist, "Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes" (I Corinthians 11:26). This is why we speak of the Eucharistic sacrifice. The "death of the Lord" is proclaimed in this act of thanksgiving. The "death of the Lord" is our salvation. In celebrating the Eucharist, we participate fully, entirely, and completely in the act of dying and rising that redeemed us.
No act of thanksgiving is without praise. Jesus said so Himself when he acknowledged the gratitude of the cured Samaritan leper. The poor man was rejoicing in God's gift to Him. He was giving thanks to God, and in so doing he was giving God praise.
All of these acts of thanksgiving, every gesture of gratitude directed to God, reach their climax in that moment when Jesus offers to the Father a thanksgiving sacrifice for redemption. The continuation of the Eucharist is not a repetition. It is our participation in the reality of Christ"s thanksgiving sacrifice. In it we "proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes" (I Corinthians 11:26).
Have we ever been so intensely thankful to someone that we wished we could live our thanksgiving for the rest of our lives? Perhaps the poor leper, cured of what was a death sentence in the world of Jesus' day, felt that way. If someone had saved your life, perhaps you would feel that way. To live a life in an eternal gratitude of praise - that is the Eucharist. How can anyone deny that it is real? To deny it would be to deny the need and necessity of thanksgiving.