The
first reading and the Gospel both handle three connected themes. Firstly, they
both narrate the healing of lepers.[1] Secondly,
they also detail the gracious behaviour of the “unentitled”. In the Gospel especially,
it does not seem that those who should be grateful are grateful. Instead, it
was left to these two foreigners to acknowledge their healing by giving thanks.
In the case of Naaman, the healing became the occasion for the confession of
faith in the God of Israel which leads us to the final theme, that is, the
connexion between faith and salvation. To the Samaritan, Jesus makes clear the
link between having faith and being saved. “Go on your way, your faith has
saved you”.
To
express his gratitude, Naaman offered a gift but it was rejected by Elisha. The
subsequent action of this healed man in securing permission to cart home as
much earth as two mules could carry provides an interesting insight into who we
are as humans in general and as Catholics in particular.
By
way of illustration, let me draw your attention to a place not far from Prague
in the Czech Republic. The town is Kutna Hora where next to the cemetery stands
the Church of All Saints. Beneath lies an ossuary, a place where dead peoples’
bones are deposited. Actually, it is more of a chapel decorated with human
bones. The sophisticated amongst us might just sneer at the ghastliness of
this memento mori[2]
whilst the superstitious might just recoil at the sight of this ghoulish
construction. Why did it come about?
It
began in the 13th century. An abbot (Henry) of Sedlec Abbey, like our Naaman,
brought home earth from the place where the Lord breathed His last and
scattered it across the cemetery. The short of it, at least 30000 people, if not
more, have been buried in the plots there. Obviously, there was not enough
space and hence the exhumation and the subsequent use of the bones for
furnishing—chandeliers, candelabras, coat of arms of the benefactor family and
even monstrance.
Both
Naaman’s carting of soil and the cemetery burials are sacramental acts. Naaman
asked for the soil where he encountered the God who healed him. In wanting to
be buried in a cemetery plot which contained some scattered earth from the Holy
Land, those dead can feel a little bit closer to the Lord. What about us?
By
nature, we are as sacramental as these people are. A sacramental gesture is
both an act of faith and an expression of gratitude. The French use a word for
the things a person brings home after a tour or a pilgrimage—souvenirs. Of
course, English uses the same word. Sadly, the many souvenirs we encounter are
kitsch or corny bordering on the sentimental or may even be caricatures of the
place. They are a shout out to the ugly, the tacky, and are superfluous or
unnecessary reminders of the place where we have been to. Maybe a patronising declaration
to the deprived, those who do not have the luxury of travel: “Been there and
done that”.
We
have forgotten that the etymology of the word “souvenir” is “coming up from
below”. In the case of Naaman, the earth below one’s feet functions as a
reminder to give thanks to God for the graces received. Otherwise, it is just
earth (or dirt). Like the sad magnets that jostle for space on the door of a
fridge. An act of remembering, that is, a memorial, is always to give thanks
for having been to a place and for receiving graces. Hoarding which in today’s
world is considered a form of sickness is exactly so because it misses this
point—sacramentality expresses gratitude more than it is an attachment to the
object itself. Otherwise it is just sentimental or even a bad memory.
Without
getting caught up in the definition of what a sacrament is, a sacrament is
first and foremost an act of God’s generosity. It explains why Elisha refused
Naaman’s gift. One does not have to pay for God’s generosity except with
gratitude. According to basic catechism, the Sacraments are channels of grace.
Instinctively we think in terms of a flow—a unidirectional flow—like a
river—something coming towards us from God. However, the word “grace” in “Let
us say grace before meal” demonstrates otherwise. The food is a gift which now
occasions a thanksgiving on our part. Grace is thus a two-way street.
Now,
it makes sense that we also call Holy Communion, apart from it being a
sacrifice, a communal meal, a memorial, the Eucharist. “The Eucharist is a
sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blessing by which the Church
expresses her gratitude to God for his benefits, for all that he has accomplished
through creation, redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means first
of all ‘thanksgiving’” (CCC, 1360).
In
a zeitgeist or climate of “What can I get out of this”?, this link between the
sacraments and gratitude is largely forgotten. Some 22 children will soon be
receiving Holy Communion next week. It is a big event for them. All of them
will be decked up but it will remain only an event which reflects what the
sacramental life is for many of us. Not a progression into deeper gratitude but
rather an event or a milestone to be chalked up. Therefore, confirmation is not
entering deeper into a discipleship with the Lord. Instead for some, it is the
last step before graduating outside the Church until before the next milestone,
that is, the sacrament of marriage where confirmation is made a prerequisite
before one can get married.[3]
Our
sacramental life has a more disciplinary character than it is an expression of
love. Consider that both the words discipline and disciplinary are derived from
the word disciple. A disciple follows expressing a dynamic and organic kind of
relationship whereas words like discipline or disciplinary connote rather
static duty. In fact, the word disciplinary is closer to punishment than it is
to love.
This
is perhaps a reflexion of our natural posture which is to lament. When things
go bad, the first word that comes to our mouth is a sigh and the first thought
that comes to mind, like any good atheist, is “If God is good, then why is this
happening?”. We have come to expect a God that not only does our bidding but
guarantees that nothing bad should ever happen. In other words, our hearts are
only big enough for a God who will obey us. We have this naïve expectation that
for life to be good, it has to be smooth sailing; forgetting that we live in
the Valley of Tears.
Sacramentality
is however an invitation to live our entire life in gratitude, not in
entitlement. If everything is grace, then everything calls for us to be
thankful. Our cue comes at the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Accepting God’s
presence, we praise Him by lifting up our hearts and giving Him thanks. This
act of gratitude might not mean much but it may change how we perceive
gratitude when we consider that the first Eucharist was born in the shadow of
the Garden of Gethsemane. Even in the face of death, Jesus Christ begins His
prayer by giving thanks to God. How much more must we to do that? Especially
when we are pressed down. That way, our hearts grow bigger for the Lord to whom
we owe everything and our relationship with Him goes deeper. From
the Common Preface IV we realise how fundamental this gratitude is for our
salvation. “For, although you have no need of our praise, yet our
thanksgiving is itself your gift, since our praises add nothing to your
greatness but profit us for salvation, through Christ our Lord”.
In
conclusion, when we do not know how to thank God and we only thank Him because
He does what we want, then the devil has won. He has made us forgetful. As
Jean-Baptiste Massieu said, gratitude is the memory of the heart[4],
so gratitude opens our eyes to see how much God is present in our ordinary
lives. The Eucharist is the perfect place to start living this gratitude. Let
us joyfully give thanks to the Lord our God.
[1] The precise meaning of the word
leprosy in both the Old and New Testaments is disputed. It probably includes
the modern Hansen’s disease (especially in the New Testament) and other infectious
skin diseases. If one prefers to be more polite,
Naaman, the Samaritan and his other nine companions were healed of their “epidermal
affliction”. However, this euphemistic tendency of political correctness might
just conceal the real horror this disease has on peoples’ imagination. For the longest time, leprosy was
considered a curse from God and is associated with sins. It is a disease that
does not kill but neither does it seem to end. It lingers for years, causing degeneration
and deformation the body. To live is to be like a walking dead!
[2] Latin for “Remember you must die”. An example
is wearing a skull pendant.
[3] Canon 1065.1 states that “Catholics who have not yet received the
sacrament of confirmation are to receive it before being admitted to marriage,
if this can be done without grace inconvenience”. This requirement is not
absolute meaning that the lack of confirmation does not affect the validity of
a marriage.
[4] It is true that bad memories have long shadows.
However, nobody in the right frame of mind intends to keep bad memories. In
doing so, they become a prison.
