By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass at the Missionaries of Charity shelter in Miami, on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 2025.
In the Gospel, Jesus cures 10 lepers – and leprosy was a terrible disease in the Old Testament, in the time of Jesus, and even up to modern times. Leprosy’s victims were shunned and feared. Thank God, today it has almost disappeared – it is a disease that can be treated and cured.
But, in Jesus’s time, it took a miracle to be cured of leprosy. That is why Jesus told the 10 lepers he cured to go show themselves to the priests. Once their cure was verified, they would no longer be feared or shunned.
In the Gospel reading, 10 were cured by Jesus – but only one came back to thank him. His attitude was one of gratitude.
We can’t say the others weren’t happy about being cured. They probably went running to find their families and loved ones to show what had happened to them. They must have appreciated what Jesus did for them. But only one of them, a Samaritan, had an attitude of gratitude. Realizing that he had been cured, he returned praising God with a loud voice, fell at the feet of Jesus, and thanked him.
The attitude of gratitude that Jesus praises in the Gospel is one we should cultivate. If only one of the 10 lepers had it, it must not come naturally. We must work at it.
People do good things for us, but we take them for granted. And we do take people for granted a lot. Instead of showing an attitude of gratitude, too often we show an attitude of entitlement – it’s all about me. But the point of the Gospel is that it is not about me.
Christian life is not “all about me.” For example, we don’t go to Mass just for Jesus to do something for us, or even to entertain us. We go to Mass to recognize what Jesus has done for us, and so we go to Mass to do something for Jesus: to praise him, to glorify him, to thank him. But whatever we do for Jesus, he’ll give back more than we can ever give him. Just as he told the 10th leper that his faith had saved him, he strengthens our faith and sends us out to tell the world how good God is.
At Mass, we do what that Samaritan leper did: We praise God with a loud voice, and we fall at Jesus’ feet and thank him. Another word for Mass is “Eucharist,” and it means “thanksgiving.” At Mass, just like the lepers, we say, “Jesus, Master, have pity!” In fact, that’s how Mass begins: We acknowledge that we are sinners, and we pray: Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!
Our leprosy today is not a disease of the skin, but a disease of the soul, a disease of the heart. And, just as the disease of leprosy separated the lepers from their communities, sin divides us from God and from one another. When we are honest with ourselves and acknowledge our sins, we feel sorry, and we know we need God to heal us through his forgiveness and mercy. In the Eucharist, we listen to God’s word. He gives good news: God loves us and wants to heal us. And so, we praise God with loud voices – and, on our knees, we thank Jesus who shares his life with us in the communion of His Body and Blood.
Perhaps, we might be like those nine lepers who were cured by Jesus but never thought to go back and thank him. Thanksgiving Day is an opportunity to show God and our fellow men an attitude of gratitude. Let us be grateful for the good things we have received; let us be grateful for the strength to endure those bad things we endure.
