Glorify God's Name

Homily for Thanksgiving Day - 2023

Saying the words “thank you” is a very common way to show one’s gratitude. Strange as it may seem, while that is the custom in Western civilization, the words “thank you” signifies something entirely different in the Eastern countries of our world. This includes the Middle East, the far east, and the near East countries of our hemisphere. In these cultures, those words mean that the relationship between the giver and the one who receives is finished. For those cultures, the way to show appreciation is by doing a similar action in return. If someone delivers something for you, you are expected to make a similar delivery. If someone takes something off the floor for you, the same action must be done reciprocally.

This attitude is present in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus had just expelled a demon from a man who had been possessed. In gratitude, the man pleaded with Jesus to allow him to travel with him so that he could return the favor by doing some deed for him. However, Jesus offers him a different way to show his gratitude. He asks the man to go home to his family and to announce to them all that the Lord had done for him. Notice that this man does not think that this is enough of a sign of gratitude. Instead of telling his family about what had happened to him, he begins to proclaim the incident to the entire Decapolis. As a result, the Gospel tells us that the people of the Decapolis were amazed.

In other scenes from the Gospel, those who benefit from the healing power of Jesus often times try to give thanks for what he has done. However, Jesus turns the expressions of gratitude back toward them by saying, “Your faith has saved you.”

In his Letter to the Ephesians, after a long statement of praise for all that God has done for us, St. Paul urges us to remember that because of what God has done, we are now to glorify God through our lives. We give glory to God when we recognize God’s will in our lives and act accordingly. The very Eucharist that we celebrate is by its very nature an act of thanksgiving. Throughout the liturgy, we stop to give glory and praise to the Lord by recognizing all that God has done for us. However, this cannot be the end of our gratitude. When the new Roman Missal was published, one of the statements offered in the dismissal rite is the words, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.” Giving glory to God is not a one and done expectation.