The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - A Life of Thankfulness

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Gratitude helps us shift our focus from our troubles to the blessings God has provided. Jeff Cavins reflects on the story of Jesus cleansing the ten lepers from Luke 17 and the profound lesson it teaches us about gratitude. Jeff offers us ten ways to cultivate a grateful heart, such as keeping a record of God's faithfulness, looking for blessings in the mundane, and participating fully in the Eucharist. Gratitude doesn't change God, but it will change you.* Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 405, a life of thankfulness. Welcome to the show, my friend, and happy Thanksgiving week to you. the time of this particular show. Yesterday would have been Thanksgiving, but we can live a whole week of Thanksgiving. You know, Thanksgiving is a holiday for sure in the United States,

but it's also for the Christian a way to live. And I'd like to spend just a few minutes today in the midst of your celebrations with a family and going to Grandma's house and so forth to give you just some pointers on living a life of Thanksgiving because I have found in my own life that when things are not going the way that I wanted them to go, or I'm feeling down, or I'm blaming other people for situations in my life, thanksgiving is such a gift to be able to get our eyes and our minds off of ourself. And on to God, who is the one who really deserves thanks for all that he has given us,

all that he has provided, the church he has given us, the work he has given us, the Word of God, the catechism, the saints, the Blessed Mother, we have just been given so much. And of course, the Eucharist, right? The bread of life. And when you look at your life and all the difficulties that you're facing and then you look at what God has given you to live this life and equip you to go day by day in victory, all we can do is just spill over into Thanksgiving to give God thanks. so let's talk about that shall we a little bit by the way i do have notes for today's show and if you do want the show notes i'll i'll give them to you absolutely free fact i have a list of ten things to do

in the midst of praise i'll try to get through all of them today but if i miss one or just mention one they'll be in the notes for you all you got to do is text my name one word jeff cavens and you can text it to the number three three seven seven seven okay so here we're are you know in the united states at least right now what's going on it's been really tumultuous this year terms of politics and you know things that are going on in the world and our response to the difficult times that we've been in is one of thanks it's one of thanking the lord you know that there's a story in the bible in luke chapter 17 that is one of my top 100 stories in the bible well probably top 10 and it's the story of Jesus cleansing the 10 lepers and I'm reminded every year

at Thanksgiving about this story and I'm reminded of what the Lord is teaching us in the story and I'm also reflecting on my own life and asking myself have I been the person that has been a man of Thanksgiving and gratitude or am I one that just looks at my own situation and blames and and focuses on my own life rather than the great things that God has done. And here's how it goes. I'll read it to you real quickly. And it's Luke chapter 17 versus 11 through 19. And it says this, on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.

And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. And then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. And here's the twist. Now, he was a Samaritan.

okay so then jesus were not ten cleansed where are the nine was no one found to return and give praise to god except this foreigner and he said to him rise and go your way your faith has made you well now that's an interesting story for a couple of things one is the the total and radical cleansing of these ten the second thing that there's kind of a twist there is that nine of them, presumably, are Jews. They are Israelites. And then there's this one guy. He's a Samaritan.

He represents those people in Samaria that don't believe in the same books that Israel believes in. They only believe in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. And that's Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers in Deuteronomy. And so there's quite a division between the Samaritans and the Jews. and it's the Samaritan. That's the one that ended up turning around and going back to Jesus and giving him thanks. He turned around and he just simply looked at Jesus, came to him, and said, thank you, thank you. And to understand just how grateful he was, you have to understand how devastating leprosy was.

I mean, leprosy would steal your life. you, once you were diagnosed with leprosy, you were basically ostracized. You were put outside the camp. You never got to see your kids grow up. You weren't at the wedding. You weren't at soccer practice. You can go to the state fair with them. None of that.

High school graduation. You were separate. Everything is taken away. You can imagine that in your own life. Put yourself in a position where everything is taken away and you no longer have life the way you enjoy it today. And then suddenly you are healed in an instant. In an instant, you're healed.

What would be your response? Well, the nine of them, they didn't respond. They just, I think about that. And I've got to ask myself, are you serious? Nine of them? Maybe one in a hundred might have this attitude of, yeah, I got my whole life back to me. I can go meet my family. And I can watch my kids and dance with my daughter at a row.

wedding couldn't before but now i can and well i'm just going to move on with my day that seems absurd to me absolutely absurd yet i got to ask you do we do that have we been given so much and yet we we don't take the time to thank god well the nine didn't we know that from the text they didn't but one did and that's the one i would have liked to have seen and that's the one jesus mentions it's the one and he's a Samaritan go figure it's the one that we weren't expecting if any of the 10 we're going to be healed and didn't come back and thank the Jewish Messiah I would have put my money on the Samaritan and I would have lost because it was those who were used to this there was those who were ungrateful and so I have to ask myself the question

if I were in that story today which one of the lepers would I have been I'll ask you that question, which one of the lepers would you have been? I know we can answer that question, and if you've been with me all these years in the podcast, you know, I'll ask you these questions, which one are you? Because you have been forgiven so much. You have been forgiven eternal damnation. You've been forgiven of immortal sin. You've been forgiven of original sin. And you've been forgiven of so much.

And you got your whole life back now. You're on your way to heaven, hopefully, where you'll spend eternity with Jesus and hopefully your family and you'll dance together in heaven. What's that worth? So you've been given so much. So let me ask you, this last week, were you the one? Or were you one of the nine? Which one were you?

In the last 48 hours, which one were you? were you just going through life, not a word of thanks, didn't live a life of gratitude and attitude of gratitude, just kind of going and do your own thing? Or were you aware of the great gift that God has given you and you are constantly in thanks for all that God has done? What about today? We can really look at this and ask ourselves the question today. Whatever time you're listening to this, it could be early in the morning, it could be late at night, but regardless, which one are you today? Are you living a life of thankfulness today? Or are you sort of oblivious to it? I've been on both sides, so I'm not pointing fingers here.

I have had those days where I have to say, yeah, I think I was one of the nine, actually. And I've had days where I thought, you know what, I am that one. I am that one. You know, G.K. Chesterton said, the secret to happiness is gratitude. Isn't that beautiful? The secret to happiness is gratitude, and I have found that to be true, and I've noticed in other people's lives that those who are filled with an attitude of gratitude, those are the happy people. And the people that show in gratitude always focused on themselves, never focused on other people

or thankful for what has been given to them, those people are not so happy. They're really not so happy. The secret to happiness is gratitude. So check your heart. Where do you stand? Restless, never satisfied, continually thinking about your problems and your circumstances. In gratitude is a clear indicator of the heart turned in on itself, proud, never satisfied. And you know what?

Those people are not happy. They're not happy. Listen, if you had the chance to be around a person who was filled with gratitude and thankful for the next week. or you could spend time with someone who was not filled with gratitude, focused on themselves, always complaining, never enough, always a problem, which one would you want to be around for the next week? I know the answer to that already. You want to be around the person who has an attitude of gratitude.

Well, and now put that into a marriage situation. You might be married. What kind of a person are you? What does your spouse have to put up with? hopefully that your spouse would say my husband is the most thankful man such a man of gratitude or would it be that guy never thinks of anything but himself from morning till night that's all he thinks about blaming everybody else so which one do you want to be you know you can move from your limited knowledge of this world to god's unlimited knowledge of this world by giving

God, praise, thanksgiving. You can go from your perspective, which is limited to God's unlimited perspective, and your power to his power, to his unlimited knowledge and perspective and power rather than your own. And praise and thanksgiving doesn't change God one single bit, but it will change you. It'll change your attitude. I really believe that's why the examined prayer, which is that great prayer at the end of the day, where you look back on your day to review. it to see what needs to change for tomorrow. It starts off, not with Father, Son, Holy Spirit,

amen. Oh, what, today was a crummy day. I can't believe it. Not another one. Not another month. Not another year. But it starts off with Thanksgiving. Thanking the giver for the gift that he's given you. And that's how you start off your time of prayer and examining your day. So I'm going to take a break. when I come back, I'm going to quickly give you 10 things to do that will sharpen you in this area and give you some ideas on how to cultivate thankfulness during this Thanksgiving season. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and I would like to invite you to spend Advent with me on the Ascension app. Sometimes Advent is just that season where we kind of pre-celebrate Christmas.

Imagine if I were to die on December 25th, how would I spend that season? and how would I spend that season of Advent in a way that would prepare me to actually be ready to see the Lord face to face? So, this Advent, we're having a series called Face to Face. That'll be a collection of Sunday homilies, as well as daily reflections on the Ascension app that every day you could spend time reflecting on

how can you and I grow in love each day of Advent so that we can be ready on December 25th to see the Lord face to face. If you're interested in joining me and if you're interested in joining the wait list, go to the Ascension app, or you could go to ascensionpress.com slash Father Mike Advent. Join us on the Ascension app today. God bless. Welcome back. Talking about Thanksgiving, a life of thankfulness. That's what God's called us to do. You know, the catechism has something to say about this in paragraph 1352. The whole community,

the whole community thus joins in the unending praise that the church in heaven the angels and all the saints sing to the thrice holy god that's the eucharist that's mass goes on in paragraph 1358 the eucharist is both thanksgiving and praise to the father so when you go to mass during this thanksgiving season just remember this is all geared towards the father okay so 10 things to do shall i give them to you now i'll put them in the show notes for you and i know you're thankful for that. Do you have to write all these down in the car or when you're jogging? Number one, Psalm 22, 3 says, God is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. You want to live a life of praise. Begin to enthrone God upon your praise. Begin to praise him.

Begin to tell him who he is and what he is done and how much you are in awe of him. Expand your vocabulary from praise God, praise God, thank you God, praise God, praise God, to to actually verbalizing why you are grateful. Like the lepers, they could have said, I praise you, God, that I get to go to my daughter's wedding next year. Lord, God, you are so powerful. You have wiped out this cruel disease that has split me from my wife. Oh, God, you are so great.

So the principle here is that God is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. So begin to praise him and thank him. He's enthroned. He's on the throne. He's in control. And the person that praises God and is thankful to God, I have found that those people, wow, those people do not live crazy lives that are out of control. They almost seem like they have this calmness about them because they give praise to God. I love what my second point is here, and that is this, Isaiah 61.3 says, put on the garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair or heaviness.

Let me say that again. I think that's beautiful. Put on the garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness, despair. You know that you and I have a choice every single day when we wake up in the morning and before we go to work or whatever we're going to do for the day, we have a choice of what we're going to wear. and I don't know if anybody who just gets up in the morning and they're jammas and go out in the car, get their cup of coffee, get in the car and drive to work, unless, of course, work is downstairs. You're not going to work, but work is at home. Nevertheless, those that put on their clothes to go to work are people who have been thinking about this and they are prepared in the same way.

Put on the garment of praise. You put your pants on. You put your shirt on. you got your socks and shoes on put on the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair how do you do that you begin to praise god and as you praise him and thank him and give him glory that is putting on this garment that god has given you and that's instead of a spirit of despair or heaviness what do you want in the day do you want to be heavy in a sense of despair or do you want a garment of praise to surround you and envelop you. Number three, express praise and thanksgiving. Express it.

Say it. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. Right. So express the praise and the Thanksgiving that is in your heart. Don't just think it, but say it. Say it. Maybe you're driving in your car and just say that from the time I leave, my driveway to the time I get to church or the time I get to my grandma's house or whatever it might be, I am just going to turn the radio off and I'm going to express my praise to God. And I'm going to make a list. I'm going to say it out loud of what I'm thankful for in my life. And you'll notice your heart changing.

You really will. And I've experienced this a number of times in my life where I was grumpy and kind of and Emily said to me, she said, honey, you need to go up to the church to. the chapel where the blessed sacrament is exposed and you need to sit down or kneel down and give God thanks for what you have. All right. So I did. And you know what?

I changed. My whole attitude changed. Number four, identify something in each hour that you can thank God for. Go ahead and try it for a day. Try it for a couple days. You go to work at 9 in the morning from 9 to 10. Identify something that you're going to think about. you're thankful for from 10 to 11 maybe it's one of your children from 11 to 12 maybe it's your home

maybe 12 to 1 your health you can go all the way throughout the day by the time you're done you're going to have 12 14 15 things that you are very grateful for use the clock and identify something each hour that you're thankful for catechism says in paragraph 2648 every joy and suffering every event and need can become the matter for thanksgiving which sharing in that of Christ should fill one's whole life, giving thanks in all circumstances. Paul said to the Thessalonians. First Thessalonians 518. No, don't grab that pen. I'll put it in the notes for you. So that's paragraph 2648. Every joy, every bit of suffering, every event can become a matter for Thanksgiving. Beautiful thought, isn't it? Number five, set aside some time

daily to express thanks to God. You know, in ancient Israel, a daily habit of Thanksgiving was important to the life of the nation. It was so important, in fact, that the Levites were officially appointed to stand in the temple every morning and every evening to do what? To thank God.

First Chronicles, 23.30. Daniel knelt down three times a day to thank God. Daniel 6.10. And you got a wristwatch, don't show? You got one of those smart watches. Don't let it remain a dumb watch. Make it a smart watch. and set some alarms throughout the day.

It's a reminder to thank God. Might even go, as I mentioned earlier, go visit the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Paragraph 1418 of the Catechism says that's proof of gratitude to go and sit before the Blessed Sacrament. Number six, keep a record of God's faithfulness in your life. Count your blessings one by one, right? And sometimes people will keep a little record book of God's faithfulness

in their life, they'll keep it with them. It could be a small one, you know, a little mullskin notebook, and keep a record of it. Start to go over it from time to time of all the things that God has given you and all the things that he's done in your life. Keep a record of it. Number seven, suffering from anxiety or worry. Are you? Are you anxious? You filled with worry, fear? Paul commands those people to cultivate a life of Thanksgiving. That's right, Philippians 4-6. and if you can't sleep at night, rise and give thanks. Psalm 11962, rise up in the middle of the night and a heavy heart will give thanks to God

unless, of course, you do believe that network news is going to do the job at 2 in the morning, not. And you know it, so don't do it. Don't get up because you can't sleep and go downstairs and turn the news on. That will keep you up even more. But use the time, maybe God is waking. you up. Maybe God wants to cultivate that praise in your life. Number eight, show gratitude and

thankfulness towards others. Here's what I would do in this atmosphere of Thanksgiving. Think of three people that you could write a note to, three people that have had a significant impact on your life and write them a note. Tell them, I'm so very thankful for you in what you've done. You know, Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 912, he told them that generosity is not only applying the needs of God's people, but it is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. And while we're talking about showing gratitude and thankfulness towards others, did you know that the Catechism says in paragraph 2220, thank those who have passed on the faith to you?

Boy, that's powerful. Just think for a moment, who passed the faith on to you? Give them thanks. goes on in the catechism paragraphs 2215 and 2218. Taking care of your parents in their old age is a way of thanking God and praising God. Number nine, thank God for small and ordinary things. You know that someone once said, I think I shared this with you a few years ago, someone once said the only thing necessary to make us unappreciative of a blessing from God

is that we should receive the blessing often and regularly. Think of the opportunities for the leper the following week. Look for the blessings in the mundane. Look for the small things and give God praise for them. And finally, number 10, fully participate in the great thank offering the Mass. It's called the Eucharist. Eucharist means Thanksgiving. And so the offering of all offerings, the sacrifices,

of all sacrifices is the thank offering, the Eucharistic celebration, fully enter into it. Really, fully enter into it. Before the elements are consecrated, Jesus gives thanks. And the glory, we give you thanks. We praise you for your glory. The liturgy of the word. The word of the Lord is our response. Thanks be to God.

The word of the Lord, our response, what's our response? Thanks be to God. Eucharistic prayer, let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. it is right and just. Wow. So my friend, I'll put these in the notes for you. I just wanted to give you some real practical things to do this week to cultivate Thanksgiving in your life. And yes, we are so thankful to be here, at least in America. I know this show is around the world, but here in America, we do celebrate nationally Thanksgiving, but as Christians, we celebrate Thanksgiving every single day. Let's pray.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you, Jesus so much. Thank you, Lord, for giving us life. We thank you for giving us the Eucharist and the sacraments and your word and the catechism and the saints and the blessed Mother. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Oh, Lord, I pray that this week will grow in the area of giving you thanks. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

I love you, my friend. Look forward to talking to you next. week.