The Gospel story we hear this weekend is interesting in-so-far as it reminds us that too often we forget to give thanks to God for the blessings we have received. All ten lepers were cured. Only one returned and gave thanks to Jesus for the gift of a cure. I think this story highlights our natural, human tendency to overlook the many good things that happen to us and perseverate on those things that we feel are bad or we don’t like.
We humans tend to give a moral value to the challenges of life, counting some as good and others as bad. The problem with this approach to life is that it tends to stymie our learning from all of the events of our life. All the challenges of life are meant to help us grow. When we give them different moral values, we tend to learn only from a portion of the things that life is attempting to teach us.
What is interesting is that we can have 20 good things happen to us and then, when just 1 thing happens to us that we judge to be bad, we think that all of life is difficult and unkind. We always need to remember that the challenges of life are meant to help us learn how to be truly children of God and more like Jesus. If you honestly assess the challenges of life you will find, I think, that there is a real balance. It seems that life never presents any challenges which are impossible for us to deal with. St. Paul reports that when He petitioned God to remove one of his challenges God responded by saying my grace is sufficient for you. This is true. We never have a challenge that is too great for us to handle.
The Epistle reading for this weekend is taken from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. It has two important messages. St. Paul first tells the Colossians to give thanks to the Father for having made them worthy to share in the lot of the saints. He then adds this very important statement of true belief: Jesus is the image of the invisible God. What does this mean to you? If Jesus, who is also like us, is the image of God, what does it mean for us? Do we truly believe Jesus is God’s revelation about how we should live as humans?
As I think about these readings, I am reminded that I must be thankful for all the challenges of life and not ascribe to any of them a moral value. All things can work for my good – for my spiritual development – if I take them as real opportunities to grow. When I can come to a point in my life where I am thankful for all of life’s challenges, I know that I am spiritually growing and learning the meaning and purpose of life.