Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Expressing Gratitude Loud and Clear
Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: I
Introduction
Giving Thanks at the Top of Our Voices
A Grateful Stranger
Greeting (See Second Reading)
May all of you who are chosen by God,
be saved by Jesus Christ, our risen Lord,
and share in his eternal glory.
May Jesus our Lord be with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
Giving Thanks at the Top of Our Voices
We appreciate grateful people very much. Do we ourselves not forget to thank? For many, it is the Lord who is forgotten. Look at everything we owe God: our life, our bodies with our eyes to see the marvels of creation and our ears to hear creation’s songs. There is all the beauty around us and all the good people to appreciate and love. Above all, God himself has come near to us in Jesus. He brought us repeated forgiveness and the capacity to forgive and to love. Let us thank God and praise him at the top of our voices.
A Grateful Stranger
Isn’t it a pity that we believers, are at times, even often, put to shame by people who are not Christians, or separated or non-practicing? Not that we are in competition with them or have to think that we are better than they, but we owe it to Christ, to the Church, to the kingdom for which we work, to live our faith in practice, to do deeds of faith. We see “outsiders” do these deeds even as we fail to do them. Let us recognize the good deeds done by others and learn from them, as Jesus points out to us today.
Penitential Act
Let us ask the Lord to heal us
from the disease of sin.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, Master,
take pity on us and heal us from our sins:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, Master,
take pity on all outcasts
and dispose us to accept them as you do:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, Master,
take pity on all who have to suffer
for trying to follow you faithfully:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and tell us to rise from our sins.
Accept our thanks and praise
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us thank our loving God
for all his goodness
(pause)
God our Father,
we are your graceful work of art.
When we were doomed to death through sin
you called us to life
through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Open us to your love and life
given for free as a gift without charge or regret.
Give us thankful hearts.
May we learn from you and your Son
to give ourselves away for free
to our brothers and sisters.
Accept our thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading
A Grateful Foreigner: Naaman, a foreigner, had come to beg the prophet Elisha to cure him of his leprosy in the name of the God of Israel. When he was healed, he gratefully promised to honor the God of Israel.
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean of his leprosy.
Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.
Please accept a gift from your servant."
Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;"
and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: "If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (cf. 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Second Reading
Remember Jesus Christ!: God’s greatest gift to us is Jesus Christ, who sums up all gifts. Gratitude prompts us to be loyal to him and to live the life of Jesus.
Beloved:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David:
such is my gospel, for which I am suffering,
even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.
Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen,
so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
together with eternal glory.
This saying is trustworthy:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Another Grateful Stranger: Jesus cured ten men, simply because they believed in him. But only one returned to thank him. He was a foreigner, and a Samaritan at that.
On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled through Samaria and Galilee, and
as he entered a village, ten lepers came to meet him.
Keeping their distance, they called to him:
“Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
Jesus told them:
“Go, and show yourselves to the priests.”
Then, as they were on their way, they realized they were healed.
One of them, as soon as he saw he was clean, turned back, praising God loudly;
and throwing himself at Jesus’ feet, he gave thanks. This man was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus asked him:
“Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine?
Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?”
And Jesus said to him:
“Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”
Prayers of the Faithful
Let us pray to our Father in heaven, who has loved us long before we could love him, and who has set us free in Jesus Christ. Let us say to him: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– For the People of God, the Church, that our loving God may bless it for all it has given to us: God’s love, God’s life, and the guidance and strength of the Spirit, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– For our parents and all who have been good to us, that the heavenly Father may bless them all and keep them in his love, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– For our country and our people, that God may make us grateful to those who have gone before us for the riches of culture we have inherited from them and for the faith they have handed over to us; that we may contribute our efforts and ourselves toward a bright future for our people, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– For those who are poor or who suffer in their person or human dignity, that our God who cares may bless them all; that out of gratitude for what we have received we may bring them love, freedom and peace, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
– For this Christian community, that the heavenly Father may bless us all; that we may learn from him what generosity and gratitude mean and pass it on to our children and neighbors, let us pray: R/ Lord, keep us in your love.
Our generous and loving God, as we have received freely from you, may we also freely give and share, that we may grow more in your image and the image of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
in this Eucharist we celebrate
the thanksgiving of Jesus your Son.
With these signs of bread and wine
allow us to praise and thank you.
By his passion
we can win our struggles,
and by his resurrection
we gain the courage to live
and to fill all we do
with the depth of the love
of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
In the Eucharistic prayer we thank God our Father for giving us Jesus. We join our thanksgiving and praise with that of the leper who thanked God at the top of his voice.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
With Jesus our Lord,
let us pray with trust and gratitude
to our Father in heaven: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us your peace in our day.
Keep us free from any hidden resentment
for having to depend on you
and on the people around us.
Teach us to say a simple and sincere
“Thank you” for all we have received,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God
who has brought us forgiveness and life.
Let us accept with gratitude
his invitation to share his table. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Loving Father,
what else can we do
—and we do it with joy—
than give you thanks
for speaking to us through Jesus
and renewing our strength
with his bread of life?
May all we say and do,
and all of our lives
be a gift to those around us,
and an act of gratitude to you,
our God for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
This Eucharist has been
a feast of thanksgiving to the Lord.
Let us always be grateful for the gifts of life,
and the gift of one another.
Let us turn everything we do
into an act of thanksgiving to God.
And may almighty God bless you all:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in the peace of the Lord
and thank him with your living faith.
R/ Thanks be to God.
REFLECTIONS
12 October 2025
Luke 17:11-19
“Go, your faith has saved you”
When we listen to today’s Gospel, we are invited to walk with Jesus as He enters a village where ten lepers cry out for mercy. Leprosy was more than a physical illness. It was a sentence of exclusion, shame, and despair. They were considered cursed, punished by God, already half-dead. And yet, it is precisely these wounded and rejected ones who approach Jesus and dare to call Him by name: “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
This is already a lesson for us. Only those who know their need dare to call upon Jesus with such intimacy. The powerful, the proud, those who feel secure in themselves, do not call Him by name. But the poor, the sick, the sinner—these feel close enough to trust Him, to cry out with confidence. And Jesus does not disappoint them.
He neither moves backwards in fear nor condemns them as others have done. He speaks a word that restores their dignity: “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” His word is enough. While on the way, they discover that their wounds are healed. Healing begins when they set out in trust, walking on the path Jesus opens before them.
But the Gospel surprises us. Out of the ten, only a Samaritan, a foreigner, returns. He falls at the feet of Jesus, praising God. He recognises not only the gift but the Giver. He has discovered the glory of God revealed in Jesus: a glory not of power and conquest, but of tenderness and mercy.
This is what saddens Jesus—not the lack of “thank you,” but the failure to recognise God’s love shining forth in that moment. Gratitude is more than good manners. True gratitude opens our eyes to God’s presence in our lives. It saves us from the illusion that everything we have is owed to us or is the fruit of our own efforts. Gratitude teaches us to see our lives as grace, as gift.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we like the nine who take the gift and move on, or like the one who returns to glorify God? How often do we pause to say: “Thank You, Lord, for the Gospel that has made my life beautiful—for family, for faith, for moments of forgiveness, for the strength to love despite difficulties”? Gratitude enlarges the heart and allows faith to blossom.
Jesus’ final words to the Samaritan are words for us too: “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” Not only healed, but saved. Salvation is more than physical health; it is discovering the joy of being loved by God and living in that love. May we learn to walk this path of faith, gratitude, and praise, allowing the Gospel to heal the “leprosy” of our world, and to make our lives a hymn of glory to God.
Gratitude
Read:
Filled with gratitude for the healing, Naaman pledges allegiance to Yahweh. Paul vouches for the eternal fidelity of God. Of the ten leprosy patients healed, only a Samaritan returns to thank Jesus.
Reflect:
“If the only prayer you ever make in your life is ‘thank you, Lord’, that is enough!” (Julian of Norwich). Behavioral scientists are now discovering the benefits of many virtues that have been traditionally part of Christian praxis. One such virtue is gratitude. In the famous “Nun Study”, David Snowdon and team of the University of Kentucky analyzed one-page autobiographical essays written by 180 nuns of the American School Sisters of Notre Dame before their final profession (average age 22). They found that 70 nuns whose writings displayed positive emotions, with gratitude being one of them, lived beyond age 90 – which was 2.5 to 3 times more than the number of nuns whose writings were low on positivity. Further, with 85% accuracy, the researchers predicted the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease: those happy, grateful nuns had a significantly lower probability of developing the disease. Gratitude and its derivatives are beneficial not only for the soul, but for the body and the mind as well.
Pray:
Make a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
Act:
Today, thank your parents/siblings for the good things they have done for you.
Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022; written by Fr. Paulson Velyannoor, CMF