Click here to download and listen to this homily (17 minutes) given by Fr Thomas Weise at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blesses Virgin Mary, in downtown Juneau AK. The story of only one of the ten lepers who where healed by Jesus returning to say thank you calls us all to greater acts of gratefulness.
Readings: 2 Kings 5:14-17, Psalm 98, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19
Homework: In order to develop a grateful heart try this exercise. Make a gratefulness list of ten blessings you give thanks for each night for a week. Fun to do with your family at dinner or bed time.
Making my gratefulness list every day for the past 10 years has really changed the way I see the world. While I do miss the people and the place of Juneau a lot, no one can step into the same river twice. Change is hard and takes lots more work than staying the same. Change is a sign that we are alive and actively working to build up the Kingdom of God. Life is always flowing forward into the future. I can choose to get onboard with that flow and live radically in the present moment accepting where I am at and what is happening as God's gift, or attempt to live some where else like the past or future. I have found the greatest happiness in the present moment and making my daily gratefulness list really helps me do this.
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