XXVIII Sunday after Pentecost: “The Power of Gratitude”.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to the Apostle and Evangelist Saint Luke (Lk 17:12-19):

“As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers met him. Keeping their distance, they raised their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, Jesus said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, seeing that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. He was a Samaritan. Then Jesus said, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And he said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has saved you.’”

Homily.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord,

The Word that the Church proclaims today places before us an essential truth: salvation is not an automatic event, but a living relationship that begins with recognition and is fulfilled in gratitude. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Colossians, urges the faithful to “give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col 1:12). He does not merely call us to believe, but to give thanks. Authentic faith, for Paul, is never silent or distracted; it is a living memory of God’s work.

The Apostle immediately clarifies the reason for this gratitude: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13). Salvation is not a moral improvement, but a real passage from a state of death to a state of life. For this reason, Paul does not hesitate to proclaim Christ with power: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15). Not a creature among others, not a lesser intermediary, but the perfect manifestation of the Father.

The Church has always recognized this as the heart of apostolic faith. Saint Paul himself, already in the first century, fought against every attempt to diminish Christ. In another letter, he writes: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily” (Col 2:9). This statement destroys at its root the Arian error, which centuries later dared to claim that the Son is inferior to the Father. Paul is unequivocal: if all the fullness of God dwells in Christ, then Christ is truly God. Saint Athanasius, commenting on Paul, states: “The Apostle proclaims what the Church preserves: the Word does not receive divinity, but possesses it by nature” (Orationes contra Arianos, I, 34).

Paul continues: “All things were created through him and for him… He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). Not only creation, but history, the Church, and our personal lives. Nothing stands without Christ. For this reason, Paul adds: “He is the head of the body, the Church” (Col 1:18). Faith is not spiritual individualism; it is belonging to a living Body.

In light of this Pauline revelation, we understand the Gospel of the ten lepers. They cry out to Jesus, and Jesus heals them all. The gift is real, powerful, merciful. Yet nine continue on their way without returning. Here the Gospel meets Paul’s teaching directly. In another letter, he warns: “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks” (Rom 1:21). Ingratitude, for Paul, is not a minor flaw; it is the beginning of spiritual blindness.

The nine healed lepers represent humanity that receives but does not recognize, that uses the gift without entering into communion with the Giver. Is this not the image of today’s society? How often have our prayers been answered, how often have we been sustained, protected, and healed, yet we fail to return? Saint Gregory of Nyssa warns with spiritual depth: “Ingratitude extinguishes the memory of God’s benefits and renders the soul incapable of rising to contemplation” (De vita Moysis, II). When gratitude is absent, faith becomes a tool, and God becomes a means.

Only one returns. And he is a Samaritan. This Gospel detail is striking. True faith does not arise from possession of the Law or formal belonging, but from recognition of the heart. The Samaritan returns, glorifies God with a loud voice, and falls at Jesus’ feet. In this act, he silently confesses that in Christ God himself is present. Origen comments: “He who returns demonstrates that he has understood that healing comes from the divine power dwelling in Christ” (Homiliae in Lucam, 34).

Then Jesus speaks the decisive words: “Your faith has saved you.” Healing concerns the body; salvation concerns the whole person. Only those who return enter into a living relationship. Saint Cyril of Alexandria affirms: “Praise stabilizes the gift because it unites man to God who has bestowed it” (Commentarius in Lucam, ad loc.).

Dear brothers and sisters, as many of you know, for many years I lived my faith within the Catholic Church, with sincerity and devotion. Yet I felt a deep desire to encounter Christ in all His fullness. My conversion to the Orthodox faith was for me like the healing of the leper in the Gospel: not a judgment on those around me, but a true inner renewal. Like the Samaritan, I stopped, recognized the Lord in His fullness, and gave thanks. From that moment, my spiritual life began to shine in a new way, because to understand who Christ truly is, and to meet Him in the Liturgy and prayer, was for me genuine salvation.

The Samaritan’s gesture is not only personal; it is ecclesial and liturgical. He accomplishes what the Church accomplishes in the Divine Liturgy. He returns, recognizes, and gives thanks. It is no coincidence that the Church calls the central Mystery of its life the Eucharist, meaning “thanksgiving.” Saint John Chrysostom writes: “When we give thanks, we participate in the spiritual sacrifice that unites heaven and earth” (Homiliae in Epistolam ad Ephesios, 3).

Here also shines the figure of Saint Ambrose, whom we celebrated yesterday. Ambrose vigorously defended Pauline faith against Arianism, affirming: “As the Father is eternal, so also the Son is eternal; as the Father is Lord, so also the Son is Lord” (De Fide, I, 15, 101). And commenting on Christian life, in full harmony with Paul, he writes: “Whoever has received grace and does not give thanks loses what he believes he possesses” (De Sacramentis, IV, 6).

Following the Julian calendar, we are still in the time of waiting. But Paul teaches us that Christian waiting is not empty: it is full of memory and gratitude. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal” (Phil 3:13-14). Not a distracted race, but a race illuminated by recognition of God’s work.

Brothers and sisters, today the Gospel and the Apostle pose a silent but radical question: Are we among those who receive, or among those who return? For many have been healed, yet only one is saved. Many ask, but few give thanks. As Saint Paul teaches, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31). To return to Christ, to glorify Him, to give thanks: this is the true preparation for His coming.

Amen.

Archpriest Michele Alberto Del Duca.